Leona Lewis named Top New Artist of 2008

Leona Lewis has been named Top New Artist of 2008.

The 'Bleeding Love' singer was awarded the title by Billboard magazine to recognise her worldwide success in the past year.

She said: "I'm just going day by day and just enjoying everything. I got a fantastic opportunity to come here and do this and so far it's been going really well."

It has been a good year for the 23-year-old British singer. She sold more albums than any other new artist and last week received three Grammy Award nominations - for Record of the Year, Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Album.

Her hit single 'Bleeding Love' - the top-selling single of the year on iTunes - has been the driving force of her success and Leona is sure she knows why.

She explained: "I think that 'Bleeding Love' isn't like your typical love song. It's got quite a painful lyric and I think a lot of people have experienced relationships on that level where it's not always fun. Sometimes you do have those painful moments and that's what 'Bleeding Love' is about."