Singer Susan Boyle’s album is number one after it became the best-selling debut in UK chart history.
Boyle, runner-up in ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent, has sold 410,000 copies of I Dreamed a Dream, beating the likes of Leona Lewis, Lady GaGa and Rihanna.
Pop mogul Simon Cowell said he was proud of his protege, adding: “She did it her way and made a dream come true.”
The Official UK Singles Chart was topped by Peter Kay’s charity single for the BBC’s Children in Need appeal.
The Animated All Star Band, featuring a host of children’s characters from Postman Pat to the Wombles, climbed to the top spot from last week’s number 18.
The highest new entry was Rihanna’s Russian Roulette at number six.
Boyle also made an appearance in the singles chart, entering at number nine with her Rolling Stones cover Wild Horses.
Boyle, 48, said the news was “fantastic”.
Her album is also expected to top the charts in the US.
The huge first-week sales have already smashed several records, giving Boyle the fastest-selling album of the year so far, and one of the biggest first week sales for any artist album in chart history.
Cowell said: “In Britain’s Got Talent she opened her mouth and the world fell in love with her, which is why her album has been the fastest selling of any woman making her debut.”
Martin Talbot, of the Official Charts Company, described Boyle’s achievement as “phenomenal”.
Sales trends suggest the album is largely being bought by the over-30s market.
Supermarket chain Tesco, which has sold 100,000 copies, says that just 3% of its sales were downloads – a method favoured by a younger audience.
By comparison, about 9% of Tesco’s sales for X Factor winner Alexandra Burke’s debut album were downloads.
High Street retailers HMV indicated that their sales figures showed about one album download for every four CDs sold.
Health fears
Boyle, from West Lothian, struggled to handle the worldwide attention she gained after her first audition was watched by millions on television and online.
In June, she was admitted to The Priory clinic after suffering an anxiety attack in the aftermath of the Britain’s Got Talent final, where she lost out to dance troupe Diversity.
She also missed a number of live shows on the Britain’s Got Talent tour after suffering from exhaustion.
Cowell, who judges on Britain’s Got Talent as well as being its creator, admitted that mistakes were made in handling Boyle’s speedy rise to global fame.
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