Robbie Williams is facing an unlikely competitor for the Christmas No1 album slot – Britain’s Got Talent star Susan Boyle.

Both singers are trying to crack America for the envied top spot – and unlike Boyle, it won’t be a first attempt for Williams.

The former Take Thatter has never been able to match his European success in the U.S. and is relying heavily on his new album, due in early November, to secure this for him and revive his fortunes.

Williams’s EMI release of Reality Killed the Radio Star will go head to head with Boyle’s I Dreamed A Dream offering from Sony, which is being released two weeks later.

But pundits are already foretelling doom for Williams, with one industry veteran telling The Observer: ‘I am amazed they have elected to go up against this.’

Music commentator Paul Gambaccini said: ‘No contest, it is Susan Boyle.

‘That is not an insult to Robbie Williams, it’s just that, bizarre as it sounds, Boyle is the new artist and story of the year around the world. The interest factor alone will bring her many, many sales.’

Ladbrokes bookmakers have given odds of 2-5 on Boyle’s album making the Christmas No 1 in Britain – compared to Williams’s at 20-1.

Mr Gambaccini added: ‘Susan Boyle has combined YouTube hits of 120 million, and even if only one in 10 people buys her album, we are talking ridiculous numbers.

‘No one can stem that tide. She has the whole international Simon Cowell Machine behind her.’

Williams has not performed in Britain for three years and is currently in LA publicising the release of his next single.

His Rudebox album in 2006 did not sell well and he admitted hitting a ‘turning point’ in his career.

Boyle is also in America, promoting her version of The Rolling Stones’ Wild Horses.