The Ledge - Susan Boyle's debut breaks U.K. chart record

By Paul Sexton, Billboard

Nov 30, 2009, 02:06 PM ET

LONDON -- Former "Britain's Got Talent" contestant Susan Boyle made a record-breaking debut on Sunday's new U.K. chart with her debut album "I Dreamed a Dream" (Syco Music/Sony Music Entertainment).

It sold 410,000 units to become Britain's fastest-selling album of 2009 and recorded the biggest first-week sales of any album in U.K. chart history, according to Official Charts Company data.

The Scottish singer also scored a top ten single with the album's first release, her cover of the Jagger/Richards song "Wild Horses," which opened at No. 9. Comedian Peter Kay and his All Star Band's "Official Children in Need Medley" (Epic/Sony Music Entertainment), which raises funds for the BBC charity of that name, leaped 18-1 on the singles survey.

Boyle, 48, has the only new title in the top 10 of the album chart, with the former No. 1 "JLS" (Epic/Sony Music Entertainment) steady at No. 2, Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies)" Interscope/Universal) up 5-3, Queen's "Absolute Greatest" (Parlophone/EMI) down 3-4 and last week's No. 1, "Echo" by Boyle's Syco Music labelmate Leona Lewis, down to No. 5. Rihanna's fourth album "Rated R" (Def Jam/Universal) started at No. 16, as the single "Russian Roulette" debuted at No. 6.

Kay's single, which rose to the top in its first full week in release, is a medley of songs by the Jacksons, Fleetwood Mac, Pussycat Dolls, Chumbawumba, Take That, the Beatles and Elbow. It features the voices of numerous favorite animated children's TV characters of the past 50 years, voiced by their original actors, including "Thomas the Tank Engine" narrator Ringo Starr.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...a3363a6f532c08