Women on Top: Leona Lewis

Before anyone tries to claim the title is dirty, I am - of course - referring to the top of the music charts (interested readers take note since this will be one of the few times I EVER refer to music as it's not really my realm).

Let's take a look at the stunning success of the former X-Factor winner:

1. Her album Spirit opens at #1 on the Billboard 200 (the first UK solo artist ever to do so with their debut)


2. She's the first UK artist to hit number one since Rod Stewart...back in Oct 2006


3. She's the first UK female to hit #1 since Sade...22 yrs ago


4. Her album sales of 205k is just beyond spitting distance of Britney's 290K back in October


5. Bleeding Love, the first single from Spirit (in America) has been nestled comfortably at number 1 these past few weeks (save a brief interruption for Mariah's Touch My Body), which makes it the first single by a UK female to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 since 1981

The reason I bring this all up is because this month is the highly anticipated battle of the divas at music retailers. Most figured that it would be between Mariah Carey (who's E=MC2 came out Tuesday) and Madonna's Hard Candy comes out at the end of the month on April 29. I think it'll be interesting to see if the music industry will be saved by not one, not two, but three female musicians.

Because judging on Lewis' debut, she's definitely a contender...