Leona Lewis has become the first ever British female artist to debut at number one on the US album chart.

Her Spirit album, already a chart-topper in the UK, Australia and Germany, sold 205,000 copies in the US last week to top the Billboard 200 chart.

Simon Cowell described Lewis’s achievement as “incredible”, saying: “This is the hardest market to crack and for her debut album to go in at number one is unbelievable.”

Lewis becomes the first British solo artist to top the US album chart since October 2006, when Rod Stewart made number one with his Still The Same… Great Rock Classics Of Our Time album.

This isn’t Lewis’s first taste of American chart glory. Last month her debut single, ‘Bleeding Love’, made number one on the US singles chart.