Nicole and Robbie top festive chart

LONDON, England -- British pop star Robbie Williams and Australian actress Nicole Kidman have beaten a little-known club singer in the race to top the UK Christmas pop charts.

Williams and Kidman were number one in the UK singles chart with a remake of the Frank and Nancy Sinatra classic "Somethin' Stupid," the Official UK Charts Company said on Sunday.

The pair beat underdog Gordon Haskell, a 55-year-old who entered the chart at number two with "How Wonderful You Are," his first single in more than 30 years.

"I am chuffed to bits," Williams said in a statement released by record label Chrysalis.

"It's a fantastic result -- Happy Christmas to everybody."

Williams becomes the first artist to top both the UK single and album charts at Christmas since the Spice Girls in 1996.

Second-placed Haskell busked outside a London record shop on Saturday in a last-ditch bid to win the top spot.

The singer, from Dorset, southern England, told Reuters in a recent interview that he was more interested in making music than in the widely publicised chart battle.

"Gordon is ecstatic, it is unbelievable," Haskell's manager Ian Brown told Reuters.

"In a way it's good not to be Christmas number one because people would see the record as a novelty."

Third place on the Christmas chart went to another newcomer, UK dance artist Daniel Bedingfield, who recorded his single "Gotta Get Thru This" in his bedroom.

The 21-year-old, born in New Zealand and living in London, recorded the dance track with a basic computer and microphone costing a reported 1,000 pounds ($1,441).