Leona Lewis has set a new record for the fastest-selling UK debut album of all time.
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The singer – who shot to fame after winning last year’s X Factor – saw Spirit go straight to number one after selling more than 375,000 copies in seven days.
It sold 12,000 more than the Arctic Monkeys’ 2006 album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, which had previously held the record.
Leona’s manager and mentor Simon Cowell said: “This is Leona’s day. I am absolutely thrilled for her.”
Spirit is now the fourth fastest-selling British album of all time behind Oasis’ Be Here Now, X+Y by Coldplay and Dido’s Life For Rent.
Leona – whose track Bleeding Love held on to the number one spot in the UK singles chart for the fourth week running – beat the Spice Girls’ Greatest Hits compilation, which entered at number two, while Led Zeppelin’s best of Mothership went in at number four.
Leona is now expected to take the US by storm.
Music mogul Clive Davis, who will help mastermind her Stateside launch launch, said: “It’s an absolute thrill to see the single explode to number one and it’s beyond fantastic that the album has broken the record.
“We’re now preparing for her US debut. We are taking nothing for granted but are confident Leona’s prodigious talent will win out.”
