The newcomer who beat Mariah

Sorry Mariah. He may now be in the great beyond but Elvis is not in the least bit ready to give up all those records his music set many years ago. The lovely Ms. Carey’s latest release, Touch My Body from the CD E=MC2, became her 18th No. 1 seller. It broke Presley’s record for 17 No. 1s. So last week the music industry waited to see if Mariah would be able to break another Elvis record, that of spending the most number of weeks in the top slot of the Billboard Hot 100. She was already tied with him at 79 weeks and all she needed was one more.

That crucial one more week didn’t happen. No it was not because Presley came back from the other side to reclaim his post. It was because Mariah’s Touch My Body dropped from the No. 1 slot after only one week and I do not think she or any other diva will like the reason. It was because of this new and truly exciting girl who has been hogging the hit charts these days and the Fates probably decided that this upstart was not going to give up being No. 1.

The girl is British reality show sensation Leona Lewis. Her debut album Spirit was released last week and instantly became the fastest-selling debut album ever. It is now No. 1 in the Top 200 Albums list. Bleeding Love, the first single out of the CD, had already been No. 1 in the Hot 100 for nine weeks. It dropped when Mariah’s much hyped Touch My Body came out but only for a while. As of the latest tabulation Bleeding Love is back on top of the Hot 100 and it is also No. 1 among the Hot Digital Songs and the Pop 100 Singles lists.

Lewis was the top winner in the third season of the UK talent show The X Factor. This is the revamped, more hip edition of Pop Idol, the British show which fueled the singing idol craze all over the world. The controversial Simon Cowell of American Idol is X-Factor’s lead judge and executive producer. So it can be rightfully said that in a way, he did discover Lewis just as he did Kelly and Fantasia, Carrie and many others. And as is usual with Idol winners, the legendary Clive Davis got the privilege of producing the first album on his J Records. Now, Davis a lawyer who has become one of the most successful producers of all time, seldom makes mistakes with his albums and Lewis’ Spirit affirms that tradition.

A graduate of the Brit School for the Performing Arts, Lewis had been winning song contests since she was 13 years old. She was working as a waitress and receptionist when she decided to join The X-Factor and blew everybody’s mind away. Among her conquests was the hard to please Cowell and it was not long before he was talking to Davis who saw Lewis as a young Whitney Houston. Davis was the producer of Whitney’s couldn’t miss early recordings. I do not know if Cowell saw in Lewis a new Kelly Clarkson, the first AI winner but somebody apparently did because Lewis’ first ever single was Kelly’s A Moment Like This. It was one of last year’s biggest sellers in the UK.

But now back to Mariah. Do not make the mistake of counting this girl out yet. All that she needs is just one more week to trump Presley’s record. She may not have been able to do that with Touch My Body but Bye Bye, her next single which she performed in last week’s American Idol results telecast has all the makings of a big winner.

Here now are the latest hit lists. The Top 10 titles among the Top 200 albums are: Spirit by Leona Lewis; Troubadour by George Strait; Sunset Man by James Otto; Now 27 by Various Artists; Accelerate by R.E.M.; Alvin and the Chipmunks original motion picture soundtrack; All I Feel by Ray 3; Trilla by Rick Ross; When Angels and Serpents Dance by P.O.D.; and Welcome to the Dollhouse by Danity Kane.

The Top 10 singles in the Hot 100 are: Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis; Lollipop by Lil Wayne featuring Static Major; No Air by Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown; Love in this Club by Usher featuring Young Jeezy; Touch My Body by Mariah Carey; Sexy Can I by Ray 3 & Yung Berg; 4 Minutes by Madonna featuring Justin Timberlake; With You by Chris Brown; Love Song by Sara Bareilles; Low by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain.