Cowell: I sell more records than Springsteen

X Factor supremo Simon Cowell says he is bigger than The Boss.

In an interview to be screened on CBS’s 60 Minutes programme in the US on Sunday, Cowell, who is also a judge on the American Idol series, says he is worth five times more to Sony than Bruce Springsteen.

“I sell more records than Bruce Springsteen, sure,” Cowell says of the 57-year-old rocker, who signed a contract that was reported to be in the neighbourhood of $100m.

“I mean, in the last five years, I’ve probably sold over 100 million records. If (Springsteen) got one hundred (million dollars), I should have got five hundred (million dollars),” he says.

Cowell says he sells all those records because he has signed “the biggest artist on the planet” – Fox network’s American Idol.

“Every single ’Idol’ winner is now signed through Sony BMG,” says Cowell. “And this applies to ... all the countries ... we sell Idol to, which is over 30 countries.”

Albums by American Idol winners and runners-up are distributed by labels within the Sony system through a deal between Clive Davis and 19 Recordings Unlimited, the label managed by American Idol creator Simon Fuller.

Interviewer Anderson Cooper asks Cowell, 47, whether his deal with Sony is in the same neighbourhood as Springsteen’s.

“A hundred million ... that’s a great deal,” Cowell says.

Was he referring to himself or Springsteen?

“For him,” Cowell says, grinning. “For him it’s a good deal.”