Her credentials as a pop star were called into question after she mimed her way through much of her debut solo single on The X Factor.

But Cheryl Cole spectacularly proved her doubters wrong yesterday - by shooting to the top of the singles chart.

She sold an astonishing 292,846 copies of Fight For This Love which instantly became the biggest-selling single of the year so far.

And it marked a turning point for the resurgent singles industry, which had been predicted to almost die out but has now been saved by internet downloads.

This year has become the biggest ever for UK singles sales because of the download market, according to music industry experts.

Miss Cole, 26, who rose to fame with Girls Aloud, said yesterday: 'I'm just getting over the fact I have recorded my solo record and now it's number one.

And it marked a turning point for the resurgent singles industry, which had been predicted to almost die out but has now been saved by internet downloads.

This year has become the biggest ever for UK singles sales because of the download market, according to music industry experts.

Miss Cole, 26, who rose to fame with Girls Aloud, said yesterday: 'I'm just getting over the fact I have recorded my solo record and now it's number one.

Geoff Taylor, BPI chief executive, said: 'We've witnessed an astonishing transformation of the UK singles market during the last six years, with digital downloads rapidly overtaking sales of CD singles and cassettes to dominate the singles scene.'

Miss Cole's much-hyped performance last Sunday helped The X Factor pull in a record audience of 14.8million viewers, with her fellow judge on the ITV show, Simon Cowell, correctly predicting at the time that the single would go to number one the following week.

It became clear yesterday that huge numbers of viewers bought Miss Cole's single throughout the week, mainly by downloading it over the internet.

Miss Cole pushed Alexandra Burke, last year's X Factor winner, into second spot in the singles chart. She had sold 187,100 copies of her single Bad Boys in its first week the previous week.

But Miss Burke still had reasons to smile last night as she claimed number one spot in the album chart with Overcome.

Elsewhere, Whitney Houston forced her way into the top 10 with her single Million Dollar Bill claiming fifth spot.

Proving the old showbusiness adage that all publicity is good publicity, she had also previewed the song on The X Factor last weekend, but her performance left a lot to be desired.

Miss Houston suffered a wardrobe malfunction when a strap on her dress snapped open, and the soul diva also stunned viewers with bizarre behaviour both during and after her performance.

The 46-year-old singer looked disorientated as she nervously shuffled about on stage following a rendition of her single.

It was the U.S. star's first TV appearance on this side of the Atlantic for 12 years. In the meantime, she has battled drug addiction and her marriage has failed. And although she had four backing singers for support, her performance was erratic.

The star also proved an awkward interviewee for host Dermot O'Leary. During the brief chat, Miss Houston struggled to answer some of the questions and even closed her eyes at one point.

However, despite her performance, she also took third place in the album chart with I Look To You.

By Daily Mail