Leona Lewis has achieved what no other X Factor contestant has and only a handful of other British women have. She's cracked America.

The X factor winner topped UK charts for seven weeks and has now topped the US Billboard chart with her dubiously titled debut single Bleeding Love.

After winning X Factor her meteoric rise with help from mentor Simon Cowell has been stark.

What really tipped the balance was an emotional performance on that gateway to popular America, the Oprah Winfrey show.

Oprah sang the young Hackney girl's praises saying: "Wow...Talk about a star is born, You're the real deal, girl."

Leona is the first British female artist to top the American charts since Kim Wilde in 1987 with You Keep Me Hanging On.

You Go Girll!