Leona Lewis Hits #1 Top On Hot 100 List
Just three weeks after Leona Lewis’ first album hit the stores her first American single – “Bleeding Love” made it to the #1 spot on the to Hot 100 list. Lewis is the first foreign music artist to become #1 in the United States with her first charted album since the Spice Girls in 1997.
“Bleeding Love” returns to #1 on the Hot Digital Songs chart after yielding for two weeks. “Bleeding Love” sold 223,000 downloads this week, its heftiest total to date. This is the fourth straight week that the #1 song on Hot Digital Songs has registered sales of 200,000 or more downloads. That’s a new record, topping the old record of three weeks–another indication that this is a fast-growing market. “Bleeding Love” has topped the 200,000 mark in both of its weeks on top. Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body” and “4 Minutes” by Madonna featuring Justin Timberlake also reached that threshold when they topped the chart.
Lewis, 23, is the first British solo artist to enter the weekly pop album chart at #1. She’s also the first female solo artist who was born in England to top the chart since Olivia Newton-John scored with back-to-back albums in 1974-1975. Lewis rose to fame in England after winning that country’s X Factor TV talent competition. The show was launched by Simon Cowell of American Idol fame. Lewis is the second act that Cowell has championed that has landed a #1 album. Cowell was also behind Il Divo, which opened at #1 with Ancora in 2006.
Lewis’s reign atop the Billboard 200 album chart is expected to be brief. Mariah Carey’s E=MC2 is likely to send it packing next week. Two weeks after that, Madonna is due with Hard Candy. If Leona, Mariah and Madonna hit #1 in succession it will be the first time that three female solo artists have debuted at #1 back-to-back-to-back since Monica, Beyonce and Ashanti scored in June and July 2003.