Leona Lewis Scores Number 1 in US
Bleeding Love Tops Hot 100, Breaking New Records for UK Singer
Two months ago, Leona Lewis topped the charts in her native UK. This week "Bleeding Love" jumps to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.
British newcomer Leona Lewis zips past the competition to land her first US number one. “Bleeding Love” jumps 8 – 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 fueled by a recent appearance with American Idol judge Simon Cowell on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
“Bleeding Love” has already topped the charts across the world including her native England where the song debuted at the summit and stayed there for an astonishing 7 weeks.
In its sixth week of release in the US, after selling 219,000 downloads, “Bleeding Love” also tops Billboard's Hot Digital Songs tally.
Leona Lewis Scores American Chart Hit
With her climb to the top in the US, Leona Lewis becomes only the second female act to score a number one hit on an American chart with her debut song since Fergie topped the Hot 100 back in 2006 with "London Bridge".
Lewis is also the first British woman to score a number one hit in America since Kim Wilde hung on to the top of the heap way back in 1987 with “You Keep Me Hanging On”.
Only two other British females have scored a home run their first time at bat in the U.S. Petula Clark became the first to top the chart with her 1965 song “Downtown” and Sheena Easton became the second in 1981 with her track “Morning Train (9 To 5)”.
Leona Lewis Gets Better in Time
In the UK, Lewis broke another record two weeks back when her second hit “Better in Time” debuted at number 2, held off by the unstoppable Duffy, on the official UK Chart.
Coupled with "Footprints in the Sand" as a double sided entry, this in itself constitutes a rarity in the new digital download world.
But as Lewis' second cut became available as a single, the BBC telethon Sport Relief began to use album track “Footprints in the Sand” as its official theme.
Since both Lewis' songs, although officially a double A, were never grouped as a bundle, “Footprints in the Sand” debuted as an individual single in its own right at a respectable number 25.
This makes Leona Lewis only the second artist in British chart history to debut on the British top 40 with the same song twice (not counting remakes).
The first artist to do this was the controversial sexed up track “Je T'aime, Moi Non Plus” by the infamous Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin way back in 1969.
Leona Lewis' full length album, Spirit, becomes available in the US on April 8.
Additional sources: Billboard, Reuters, Official UK Chart Company
