She has been mocked for miming and savaged for her singing, but Cheryl Cole has left critics stunned by achieving a prestigious double No 1 on the UK music charts.

The Girls Aloud member’s first solo album, 3 Words, entered the charts at No 1 yesterday, while her debut song, Fight For This Love, remained at the top of the singles chart for the second week running.

A judge on ITV singing show The X Factor, Cole, 26, enjoyed her triumph in front of millions last night as she was congratulated live on air after news broke that she had “done the double”.

Music mogul and fellow judge Simon Cowell announced:

“Cheryl has got the number one single and the number one album.

"Seriously, I'd like to say on behalf of us at the show, this is an incredible thing you have done.

"Now can you come to my record label, please?"

A week earlier she had celebrated having the fastest selling single of the year.

Cole became the nation’s sweetheart after she joined The X Factor last year and took a contingent of wide-eyed young girls under her wing, leading Alexandra Burke all the way to victory in the show’s final.

But hopes for her solo album remained low after she debuted Fight For This Love on the programme a fortnight ago and offered up an energetic dance routine but wobbly vocals.

The opening verse sounded shaky and she was accused of miming the remainder of the upbeat number.

The performance followed an appearance by Girls Aloud the previous year in which Cole’s singing was so poor that Cowell, credited with turning her into a household name, told her live on air that she was “pitchy”.

Reviews of 3 Words album haven't been much better, with The Times critic Pete Paphides deciding "the emotional temperature rarely nudges above frosty".

"If this is really the best that her “team” can do, then another 3 Words spring to mind. Sack them all," he wrote.

Her triumph yesterday was tempered by a fraught weekend on The X Factor.

A rising fashionista, she was mocked mercilessly and became tabloid fodder after wearing a dress on Saturday night's show described by many as resembling “dustbin lids”.

On Sunday night, she watched as Lloyd Jones, one of the boys she is mentoring, failed to impress viewers and found himself in the show’s bottom two contestants after a public vote. He was saved at the last minute and Rachel Adedeji was sent home.

Her success also put an end to her onetime protégé Burke’s reign at the top of the charts. No 1 last week with her debut album Overcome, Burke was pushed out by Cole and fell to No 5 as albums by Michael Jackson and Michael Buble debuted and the much publicised Soldiers album rose to No 4.

Explore Music

• CD Reviews

• Live Reviews

• Classical

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of 2009
• The 100 Worst Movies of 2009
• The 100 Best Films of the Decade