Susan Boyle's The Gift Returns to Number 1 on the Billboard 200 Best-Selling Albums Chart

NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Susan Boyle's The Gift, the fastest-selling holiday album in history, has returned to the Number 1 spot on the Billboard 200.  The Gift originally debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard 200 immediately following its domestic release on November 9, retaining its position the following week.  The album is now back for its third week (out of four) at Number 1 in the US, selling 271,500 copies during the past week.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100921/NY68417 )

In addition, The Gift is holding strong in its fourth straight week at Number 1 on the Billboard Holiday Albums chart.

The Gift's return to the top of the Billboard 200 follows the news of Susan's GRAMMY® nomination, the first of her career, in the Best Pop Vocal Album category for I Dreamed A Dream, her debut album.  Susan's competition in the category includes Justin Bieber's My World 2.0, Lady Gaga's  The Fame Monster, John Mayer's Battle Studies and Katy Perry's Teenage Dream.

When Susan's The Gift (SYCO/Columbia Records) entered the both official UK chart and the US Billboard 200 chart at Number 1 in November 2010, it became the fastest selling holiday album, on both sides of the Atlantic, of the SoundScan era.

Released nearly a year to the day since the release of her debut, Susan Boyle's The Gift began mirroring the achievements of its predecessor when it became the Number 1 album in the US and the UK less than 12 months after I Dreamed A Dream had achieved the same feat on both sides of the Atlantic.  Not only had Susan become the first female artist ever to hold the Number 1 album spot in the US and UK twice in under a year, but she was the only artist of any gender in the history of music to have reached this pinnacle since the Beatles in 1969.

SOURCE SYCO/Columbia Records