British pop star Leona Lewis made an appearance on April 17 on The Tyra Banks Show in the midst of her chart-topping, history-making week.

Leona Lewis’ “Spirit” (J Records/SyCo Music) sold 205,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the first time in music history that a British female artist has debuted at No. 1 in the U.S.

Disc’s sales are the highest for a female artist’s debut since Carrie Underwood in 2005. Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” track has now sold 1.1 million downloads.

Lewis, the 2006 champ on Simon Cowell’s “The X Factor,” is the first winner of a televised U.K. singing competition to cross over in the States. The previous high-water mark came from Paul Potts, who won “Britain’s Got Talent.” His “One Chance” sold 22,000 copies in its first week in the U.S. in mid-September then went on to sell about 25,000 copies per week during the holiday season. Its cume is now around 370,000.

“In the last 12 months, we were lucky to have Paul Potts and Leona,” Cowell told Daily Variety.” Both crossed over all over the world. It’s always our intention to (select) performers who can become international superstars. At the moment, these shows in the U.K. are becoming more credible and we’re getting more contestants. After the second ‘Pop Idol’ and the first ‘X Factor,’ nothing happened (for the performers) and I wondered if the shows were worth doing. It really is the luck of the draw and we now have a larger (talent) pool.”

(Source: Variety, Leona Lewis makes music history)

Video of Leona Lewis interview on The Tyra Banks Show

Conclusion of Tyra Banks Show interview and Leona Lewis’ performance of “Bleeding Love”

Hat Tip: Leona-Lewis.net – Leona on the Tyra Show Video