UK talent show winner Lewis to top US album chart

LOS ANGELES—New pop sensation Leona Lewis is set to debut at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart this week, the first British woman to achieve this feat, trade publication Daily Variety reported in its Wednesday edition. Just three weeks ago, the 23-year-old winner of the UK talent show “X Factor” rewrote the history books when her song “Bleeding Love” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart.
It was the first time a British female solo artist had topped the chart since Kim Wilde went to No. 1 in 1987 with a cover of the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.” “Bleeding Love” is from the album “Spirit,” which Daily Variety said was likely to sell more than 205,000 copies in the week ended April 13. Its report quoted the record executives who groomed Lewis for stardom, including Simon Cowell, the “American Idol” judge who created “X Factor.” Official data will be released on Wednesday by tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan. A spokeswoman for Lewis’ J Records label was not immediately available for comment.
Daily Variety said “Spirit” ranks as the biggest-selling debut by a female artist since former “American Idol” champ Carrie Underwood’s “Some Hearts” debuted at No. 2 with 314,500 copies in November 2005. Lewis won “X Factor” in 2006, securing a contract with Cowell’s Syco Records, which partnered on the project with New York-based J Records. “Spirit” debuted at No. 1 in the UK last November, while “Bleeding Love” was Britain’s biggest-selling single last year. J Records is a unit of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture between Sony Corp and Bertelsmann AG.—Agencies