Susan Boyle with her first album, "I Dreamed" ©Syco Music (©Columbia Records)

They’ve photographed her in profile, through heavy gauze, with dramatic lighting, and with face-shaping by hands and hair, but despite her un-tele-photogenic physiognomy, Susan Boyle’s unseen talents have put her in the book of records (both pulp and platter) ahead of the dense, undeep but more easily watchable.

Boyle’s throat of platinum has vaulted her to number one in America and Britain for the second time.  Only The Monkeys (1967) and the Beatles (1969) had previously achieved the accomplishment, but Boyle is the first woman to climb that stairway.

It was Just just last year Boyle became a sensation-of-the-hour when she walked ungainly on Britain’s Got Talent’s stage and got 120 million views on YouTube.

The striking contrast between her plain appearance and her voice was so striking that she became the immediate next big thing.  Her talent (and careful handling) has sustained her from a curiosity into the most popular recording artist.

On an Earth hungry for beauty and youth, Boyle has become an international folk hero for deep talent overwhelming superficial bone structure.