Cheryl Cole looks to be to securing her first number one solo single, but music fans have raised doubts about the originality of her track. Fight For This Love, which she performed on last Sunday’s X Factor, is the top track on iTunes and expected to topple Alexandra Burke’s Bad Boys this weekend. But music fans and even professional music reviewers have pointed out that the melody of the song’s verse – and the beat underneath – are almost identical to the 2007 hit Lil Star, by American-born Kelis, which reached No.3.

Cheryl’s people have brushed aside the allegations but some who have listened to the two songs back-to-back on sites such as YouTube say that until the chorus kicks in, the two tracks seem to be rather similar. One, calling herself Ali1998, wrote: ‘It was the first thing I thought of when I heard it and ran off to play Lil Star immediately to everyone in the room. ‘My daughter exclaimed, “it’s exactly the same!” I wonder if she realises this or it’s subliminal.’ Another, Chief Wahoo, said: ‘I had no idea that it was even Cheryl Cole. But Lil Star by Kelis just kept going through my head.’ An anonymous poster added: ‘Pretty much the entire song is a re-sampled version of Lil Star, just with new lyrics and a dancey break.’

Freelance music reviewer Alex Macpherson told the Mail Online that he agreed that the two tracks were alike. He added: ‘It has the same chord progression as K-Ci and Jojo’s ‘All My Life’ too. ‘It is kind of a generic mishmash of better R ‘n’ B songs. Plus Cheryl is no Kelis vocally – it is thin and characterless rather than soulful and husky.’ But many Cheryl fans have leapt to her defence, and argued that any similarities were slight.

‘DennisHxC’ said: ‘It’s not the same song, period. It’s impossible nowadays to make an absolute unique song because practically everything has been done already.’

And another, calling himself Chunkyboyskinny, said: ‘Its not really Cheryl that’s copied this – the beat sounds similar but that’s to do with the producer.’

Cheryl’s spokesman today defended the accusations, saying: ‘There are no similarities.’

The song was written by American Andre Merritt, who has previously worked with Rihanna.

But the accusations will still sting Cheryl, as her debut single was already attacked for ‘borrowing’ ideas from other artists.

The video for the single has been criticised for including clips that are highly similar to those used in a video of fellow X Factor judge Dannii Minogue.

In both Fight For This Love and Put The Needle On, the girls writhe in the corner of a room patterned with a black and white grid.

The red and black hoodie that Cheryl wears in the video has also been seen on Lady GaGa and the transparent top she wore underneath her red military jacket on the X Factor was previously seen on reject band Kandy Rain’s blonde singer Coco.

Fight For This Love is the first single from her album 3 Words, out on Monday.