Kelly Clarkson Becomes First ‘American Idol’ With 100 Billboard Number 1s

Kelly Clarkson is making history and becoming the first American Idol contestant to reach 100 number-one hits on the Billboard charts.

Billboard announced Kelly’s big news earlier this week, where the site revealed that Clarkson’s “Piece By Piece” had shot to the top spot on both Billboard’s Hot Digital Songs and Pop Digital Songs charts following the singer’s emotional final American Idol performance of ballad on March 25.

Clarkson’s latest pair of number-ones means Kelly is the first American Idol contestant in history to reach the huge milestone of 100 hits topping Billboard’s various charts, putting Kelly just ahead American Idol’s other most famous export, Carrie Underwood, who trails just behind Clarkson with a huge 83 number-one hits in her decade-long career.

Billboard also revealed which of Clarkson’s fellow American Idol superstars have made a dent on the charts in the past, contributing to the FOX singing show’s more than 450 number-one hits on the charts.

Chris Daughtry, who serves as the lead in the rock band Daughtry, has the next highest number-one tally from American Idol, boasting 40 chart toppers. Season 3 winner Fantasia is next on the list with 35 number-one singles, while Christian artist Mandisa, who came in ninth place on Season 5 of the series, brought in 25 number-ones.

This is just the latest milestone in Kelly Clarkson’s record-breaking week, which also saw her hit the history books for her historic rise back into top 10 with her album Piece By Piece.

Billboard previously announced this week that Kelly’s emotional performance of the song of the same name on American Idol saw her 2015 album soar back up the Top 200, marking what Billboard described as being the “largest positional jump into the top 10 in five years.”

The site revealed that Clarkson’s album rose from No. 120 on the Top 200 all the way up to No. 6 six on the chart, marking a staggering 682 percent increase in sales.

Kelly Clarkson opened up about the emotional performance that saw her album and single shoot up the Billboard charts last week, where she confessed that she was “embarrassed” by the performance that left her and American Idol judge Keith Urban in floods of tears.

“It was just, stars aligned for me to really be screwed emotionally [that night],” Clarkson joked about her final ever American Idol performance to radio host Elvis Duran on the Z100 Morning Show, admitting that seeing her daughter River Rose running around backstage made her even more emotional.

“It was the last time I was on [American Idol] and my little kid is running around the same hallways that I was running around at 19. I was just super screwed!” Kelly said.

“I’m so embarrassed,” Clarkson continued on the Z100 morning show of her emotional performance, joking that it wasn’t exactly her idea of a “good time.”

“It’s so funny to me that everybody was like, ‘It was remarkable!'” Kelly Clarkson continued, joking that “crying on national television isn’t really my idea of a good time.”

Clarkson also addressed the performance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show last week, admitting that she even struggled to make it through the emotional ballad during rehearsals.

“I didn’t realize it was going to be that bad. And we were rehearsing that day and I just couldn’t get through it,” Kelly told Ellen. “My little girl was there, my little boy was, like, turning circles in my stomach. It was nostalgic. It was the last time I was going to be on Idol and it’s ending. I was screwed from the get-go.”

Watch Kelly Clarkson performing “Piece By Piece” on American Idol below.

https://youtu.be/9FHYBQxURQo

What do you think of Kelly Clarkson’s big record breaking week?

[Photo by David Becker/Getty Images for iHeartMedia]