R&B honour for X Factor flop Ella Mai
X FACTOR reject Ella Mai has become the first Brit artist to top the US R&B singles chart in 26 years.
The 23-year-old hit the jackpot with her song Boo’d Up.
She said: “1992 was before I was born. First in my lifetime. Insane.”
Yet the same track is at only No62 in the Top 40 charts and so appears on the Radio 1’s C list, meaning it gets around just eight plays a week.
London-born Ella Mai auditioned in 2014 for The X Factor as part of trio Arize but did not get through. Yet Boo’d Up has earned 6.3 million streams.
The previous Brit to top the US R&B chart was Rochdale’s Lisa Stansfield with her single All Woman in May 1992. She tweeted Ella Mai: “Congratulations.”