American Idol winner goes in at No 1

The first single from reigning American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino has opened at No 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles in the United States.

I Believe becomes the Hot 100's first No 1 debut since second-season Idol runner-up Clay Aiken's This Is the Night almost a year ago.

The song, co-written by first-season Idol finisher Tamyra Gray, sold 142,000 copies in the US in its first full sales week.

Barrino's sales figures pale, though, in comparison to previous Idol winners Ruben Studdard and Kelly Clarkson, whose debut tracks sold 286,000 and 236,000, respectively.