Susan Boyle rules 2009 music charts

Susan Boyle rules 2009 music charts
Susan Boyle rules 2009 music charts (Image credit: Ken McKay)

Susan Boyle has been crowned one of the biggest-selling stars of 2009. The Britain's Got Talent sensation's debut album, I Dreamed A Dream, had the biggest first week sales for a debut album in chart history, and to date has sold 1.5 million copies, making it the biggest-selling album of 2009, according to the Official Charts Company. Lady Gaga and her Grammy-nominated hit, Poker Face, was the single of the year after being the most downloaded song in the UK. Managing director of the Official Charts Company Martin Talbot said: "Lady Gaga and Susan Boyle have captured the public imagination and made the charts their own in less than a year - it's a phenomenal achievement for them both." It seems was also a bumper year for Black Eyed Peas, who released their fifth record, The END, and X Factor winner Joe McElderry and his chart-topping single The Climb. The Black Eyed Peas had four singles in the Official Singles Chart of 2009, while The END was fourth in the album chart. Joe was at No 5 in the 2009 singles chart, despite only being on sale for three weeks.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.