Chart battle: Cher Lloyd's Sirens vs Cheryl's Crazy Stupid Love

Just like turning up to a party in the same dress as someone else, it can be a little bit awks when two popstars release their new singles on the same day.

For Cheryl, erm, Fernandez-Versini and Cher Lloyd, the stakes are even higher, as they prepare for their big comebacks. It’s two years since the former X Factor contestant Cher and her one-time mentor Cheryl were in the Official Singles Chart – but who’s going to score the bigger hit?

With Cher Lloyd’s Sirens and Cheryl’s Crazy Stupid Love both out tomorrow, we take a look at the ladies’ stories so far.

The very beginning

Just one of the many things our two chart warriors have in common is their big break. They both first came to the public’s attention on TV talent shows. Cheryl was, of course, a contestant on 2002’s Popstars: The Rivals, a TV quest to form a new boyband and a girldband and pit them against each other in the race to the top of the Official Singles Chart.

Credited with starting the trend for TV talent show stars competing for the Official Christmas Number 1, Postars:The Rivals saw Cheryl romp to victory along with Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Kimberley Walsh and Nicola Roberts to form Girls Aloud and claim the Number 1 spot with Sound Of The Underground, leaving those pop rivals One True Voice in second place.

Cher Lloyd’s big moment came on another big weekend TV talent show: ratings juggernaut The X Factor. Cheryl, by now on the other side of the judging desk as a mentor, saw potential in Cher straight away, but after a series of nervous auditions, it took more for the British public to be convinced.

It was a performance of Shakespear’s Sister’s Number 1 hit Stay that seemed to turn public affection around, but in the end Cher was up against some serious competition. She eventually finished fourth, behind One Direction, Rebecca Ferguson and that year’s winner Matt Cardle.

WINNER:Cheryl nudges this one, as she won her TV talent show.

First hit

When it comes to Cheryl’s solo career, she certainly started with a bang. In 2009, her debut hit all by herself, Fight For This Love, was a huge-selling Number 1, spending two weeks at the top of the Official Singles Chart and soon selling a million copies.

Cher’s career got a good start too – Swagger Jagger, her debut single, went straight in at Number 1, selling almost 250,000 copies.

WINNER: It's another knockout for Cheryl – you can't really argue with a million-seller, can you? All those noughts – you don't mess with them.

Chart story

Cheryl had 20 consecutive Top 10 hits with Girls Aloud, and 22 altogether, including Number 1s Sound Of The Underground (2002), I’ll Stand By You (2004), Walk This Way (2007) and The Promise (2008).

Her biggest selling single with the group is that debut Sound Of The Underground, selling over 660,000 copies. Solo, Cheryl has scored eight Top 40 hits, six of which hit the Top 10. Cheryl’s had three chart-toppers Fight For This Love, Promise This (2010) and Call My Name (2012).

Cher Lloyd’s racked up three Top 40 hits in the UK, including two Top 10s. Her debut album Sticks + Stones went Top 10. She also featured on the Number 1 single by 2010’s X Factor finalists, a cover of David Bowie’s Number 24 hit from 1977, Heroes, recorded in aid the Help For Heroes charity.

WINNER: Well, getting a Number 1 is what it's all about, and with three to Cher's one, Cheryl takes this one again.

Stateside success

Obviously, we’re all about what’s happening in the good old UK, but we can’t talk about these two ladies without mentioning what they’ve done in the US. Cher has managed to score some hits on the Billboard charts, including a Top 10 with Want U Back. No chart success for Cheryl across the pond, but she was an original judge on the American version of The X Factor, before being replaced by Nicole Scherzinger.

WINNER: You know what? We're going to hand this one to Cher.

Celebrity pals

Cher Lloyd has been making the most of her time away from the UK charts on collaborations with Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines pal T.I. and Demi Lovato, who she also toured with in the US. She’s also featured on tracks with Sean Kingston and Becky G, along with a Top 10 hit With Ur Love with Mike Posner.

Cheryl’s not short of a celebrity mate or two, of course. She’s still friends with most of Girls Aloud, and has had two top 10 hits with her CPF and Black Eyed Peas’ frontman will.i.am. She enlisted Calvin Harris to write and twiddle the knobs on her Number 1 Call My Name and she’s even got Tinie Tempah to join her on her new single. These two are the most well-connected pair in showbiz.

WINNER: This is a tough one. We're going to have to call it a tie.

Bride wars

The papers and gossip sites have been very excited about Cheryl’s secret wedding to Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini, which Chezza announced earlier this week, but Cher Lloyd also pulled off some surprise nuptials herself late last year.

Cher and boyfriend Craig Monk met in 2011 and announced their engagement the year after, but nobody was quite expecting the happy pair to get hitched so quickly. They wed in November 2013, with a delighted Cher posting a wedding pic to her Instagram.

Pics of the Fernandez-Versini wedding have yet to go public, but when they do, can we expect a dress as stunning as Cher’s? Cheryl has of course, done this before – she had a high-profile wedding to footballer Ashley Cole in 2006, which ended in divorce four years later. Luckily she’s now met Mr Right! Anyway, while we wait for pics of Cheryl in her wedding frock, here’s how she announced the news.

WINNER: We love Cheryl's shock-and-awe announcement, but we don't feel like we've had a wedding unless we've seen a dress, so Cher goes straight to the top of the cake!

The comeback single

As we’ve seen, Cher and Cheryl have loads in common, their brand new singles couldn’t be more different.

Cher’s Sirens is a heartfelt, rocky ballad, which La Lloyd sings with raw emotion. The video is a harrowing tale of desperation, based on Cher’s own childhood and the arrest of her dad. She doesn’t half smoke a lot in the video, too.

Cheryl’s more on the up side, heading straight down to the disco with Crazy Stupid Love. It features a jaunty sax, plenty of dancing and Cheryl looking, as always, like she just stepped out of a beauty salon.

WINNER: Ooh, we can't call this one. We love 'em both.

On our sophisticated chart battle scoring system, we see Cheryl take three rounds, Cher two, and two rounds finishing as a tie. Buit what does it all mean? Well, not a lot, really, as it's up to you!

So will the record-buying public – that’s you, btw – go for tears or cheer? Cher or Cheryl? Will you bank on Lloyd or make Cole your goal? (This joke would only really work if Cheryl hadn’t just got married, you know, and even then… – Surnames Ed) It’s all up to you!

Sirens and Crazy Stupid Love are both out tomorrow.