Minor miracle as Eurovision flops reach number 15

Britain's Eurovision pop flops Jemini were celebrating a minor victory last night after making it to number 15 in the national singles charts.

Their single, "Cry Baby", entered the chart a week after the band became the first British act to score "nul points" in the 47 years of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Beamed live by satellite from Riga in Latvia, 150 million viewers around the world watched as the pop duo - Gemma Abbey, 20, and Chris Cromby, 21, from Liverpool - put in an off-key performance leading to last place.

The pair, and their management team, blamed everything from sabotaged equipment to political voting because of anger in Europe about the war in Iraq. But on the basis that any publicity is good publicity, the pair claimed the failure as a victory in disguise.

Abbey said: "We'd rather have nothing than come half way or get 10 points." The song's chart position, however, failed to meet the predictions of Martin Isherwood, its writer. After the public haranguing, Isherwood said of the song: "It's not crap and will get to number one."

That privilege has gone to the American singer R Kelly this week. S Club were unable to remove the R'n'B singer from the top spot, where he will stay for the fourth week.

Kelly faces 22 allegations of under-age sex in the United States, including one in which he allegedly videoed himself having sex with a 13-year-old girl. He could be given 15 years' in prison if convicted.