Susan Boyle continues to break sales records with her debut album, I Dreamed a Dream. The album is number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart with 701,000 copies sold in its first week.
Boyle's CD sales were the largest number sold in 2009, beating out the record-holder Eminem and other artists such as U2. She also has the largest ever sales debut for a female artist, a feat which is remarkable considering where Boyle came from and the fact that almost all of her sales were actual CDs. Only 40,000 digital downloads of her album were purchased on iTunes last week, in contrast to the previous week's number one, John Mayer's Battle Studies, in which almost half of his sales were digital.
Since her homely appearance and angelic voice won over viewers who watched her YouTube performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" on Britain's Got Talent, Boyle has had a whirlwind of a year, culminating with her worldwide number one album. Boyle broke Amazon's global pre-sales record in November and QVC sold out of her CDs within minutes.
Adam Lambert came in at No. 3 on this week's charts with his debut For Your Entertainment, selling 198,000 and Rihanna's fourth album, Rated R, came in at number two with 181,000 copies sold. Andrea Bocelli's My Christmas held the number two spot for the second week in a row.
"It's been bloody fantastic," Boyle told the BBC Scotland this week. "Pretty moving, really, because it's a chance for me to prove, really, what I'm capable of."
"All I can say is thank you very much for those who supported me and I hope you enjoy the album."
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