When Susan Boyle sung on a British talent show in April last year, her performance was subsequently viewed 83 million times on YouTube and was replayed by media around the world. Incredibly, just nine months later, Boyle has the highest selling album of 2009, according to ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association).

I Dreamed A Dream was only released six weeks ago, but has been sitting at number one on the ARIA Top 50 Albums chart ever since.

“I’ve been with this company 25 years and I’ve never seen a record sell this fast,” admitted John Parker, chair of ARIA’s chart committee and Australian General Manager of marketing at Boyle’s label, Sony BMG Music. “It’s unstoppable. People are captivated by that voice, people are captivated by the story,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Born in Blackburn, Scotland, to two Irish immigrants, 48-year-old Boyle was living a quiet life in a council house with her cat when she appeared on “Britain’s Got Talent”. Prior to her TV breakthrough appearance, she’d mainly been singing in her local Catholic church, though she had reportedly previously recorded a demo and sent it unsuccessfully to various record companies.

Boyle’s debut is followed in ARIA’s 2009 end-of-year albums chart by Pink’s Funhouse, Black Eyed Peas The E.N.D, Taylor Swift’s Fearless and Lily Allen’s It’s Not Me, It’s You.