Charlotte breaks US chart record

Charlotte Church and mother Maria at the High Court

Schoolgirl singer Charlotte Church has become the youngest British star to have a top10 album in the US.

The 14-year-old from Cardiff, who last month was at the centre of High Court action taken by her former manager, has seen her latest album Dream a Dream climb to number seven in the US album charts.

The album has sold more than 200,000 copies in a week and both her previous releases, Voice of an Angel and Charlotte Church, are in the Billboard top 200.

Dream A Dream shot up from 16 to seven with a 65% increase in sales in the past week.

Charlotte Church's third album has given her a top ten hit

The Christmas-flavoured album is currently at number 34 in the UK charts.

A spokeswoman for Church's record company Sony Classical said of her US success: "This has made our Christmas."

The star was at the White House in Washington DC earlier this week where she turned on the Christmas lights and met President Bill Clinton again.

Last month, the singer's former manager Jonathan Shalit eventually settled his dispute with her parents in an out-of-court deal worth about £2m.

The Welsh teenager is part of a select band of British acts which are selling well in the US, and her chart success follows in the wake of Radiohead's number one album Kid A.

Also performing well are BBMak, whose album has sold more than half a million copies thanks to the hit single Back Here, despite doing badly in the UK.

And Dido - who features on Eminem's hit Stan - has sold more than 900,000 copies of her album No Angel.

Guitar band Coldplay could also find success in the US. Their UK hit Yellow has been adopted as a theme by the ABC TV network, giving them huge exposure.

And The Beatles are back at number one in the US with their greatest hits album 1, which has now sold more than 2.5 million copies across the Atlantic.