Barrino's song was co-written by another American Idol contestant

Fantasia's I Believe marks the first time in US history a debut single has topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

It is also only the 13th record to have reached number one in its first week. The 12th was This Is the Night from previous Idol runner-up, Clay Aiken.

Fantasia, who won the show in May, is the third American Idol winner after Kelly Clarkson and Ruben Studdard.

Clarkson's debut track, A Moment Like This, previously set a record for the biggest jump in chart history, leaping from number 52 to number one in just one week in October 2002.

65 million votes

Fantasia is the first number one by a female star this year, and is the first solo female number one since Clarkson held the spot in October 2002.

The single was co-written by Tamyra Gray, a previous American Idol contestant from the first series of the show.

Barrino, 19, a single mother from High Point, North Carolina, beat 16-year-old Diana DeGarmo in the final in Los Angeles in May.

A record 65 million phone votes were cast by viewers of the Fox TV show, up from 24 million last year.