Theo Usherwood Welsh star Duffy yesterday stormed to the top of the album charts with 2008's fastest selling album.

More than 180,000 copies of Rockferry flew off the shelves this week, propelling her to top spot in the album chart.

Duffy also remains top of the singles' chart for the third week in a row.

Last month, her second single Mercy was the first by a UK artist to go to No 1 on downloads alone.

In the past year only one other debut album from a British artist - X-Factor winner Leona Lewis's Spirit - has sold more copies in its first week.

Martin Talbot, managing director of the Official UK Charts Company, said: "Duffy's achievement represents another stunning success in the great start to 2008 for British-signed debut talent. With Adele, Amy Macdonald and Scouting For Girls, Duffy's album means that four of the biggest-selling albums so far this year are debuts from UK artists."

Duffy's success means that Back to Black, the Deluxe Edition from Amy Winehouse slips down to No 2 in the album chart.

Nickelback see their album All The Right Reasons jump from sixth to third spot.