Williams stunned by fans' dedication

Robbie Williams is stunned his fans have stuck with him throughout his career - because he's always expected them to desert him.

The Angels hitmaker has long been lauded as the top male solo artist, raking in more than 25 million album sales during his 13 year solo career following his departure from boyband Take That in 1995.

Williams admits he has always suffered periods of self-doubt - a feeling which was compounded by the release of his flop 2006 album Rudebox.

The record sold only 500,000 copies - and Williams was convinced his fans would leave him for good.

He says, "Ever since I was in Take That... I've always gone, 'Right, is it this Christmas or this Christmas that they (fans) are going to go?'

"When Rudebox came out and it got panned and didn't do that great it was a bit, 'Oh now's the time, here's your golden clock and off you go.' It was a weird sense of relief that stuff didn't have to be that massive."