Fans gather to watch Susan Boyle perform in the Britain's Got Talent semi-final in her home town of Blackburn, West Lothian, in May. Pre-orders of the singing sensation's new album have set a record for online retail giant Amazon.com (Danny Lawson/Associated Press) Susan Boyle's transformation from dowdy church volunteer to TV singing sensation has hit a new high, with Amazon.com announcing that Boyle's forthcoming album has become its biggest global pre-order in history.

The online retail giant revealed on Thursday that pre-orders for the Scotswoman's much-anticipated album I Dreamed a Dream have set a record in the web store's 14-year history.

The unlikely 48-year-old star has "captured the hearts of [Amazon's] customers around the globe," officials said.

While the company declined to release actual numbers, officials noted that I Dreamed a Dream has surpassed a host of other recent record-setting pre-sales, including U.S. singer Norah Jones's 2007 album Not Too Late, British group Take That's 2008 release Never Forget: The Ultimate Collection and Japanese rock outfit Mr. Children's Supermarket Fantasy, also released in 2008.

Boyle's album, which is named after the Les Misérables ballad that shot her to fame on the TV reality competition Britain's Got Talent, will be released Monday in the U.K. and Tuesday in North America. Its eclectic songlist ranges from the title song to traditional hymns to covers of pop songs like Wild Horses by the Rolling Stones.

Boyle shot to international stardom after the show's producers posted online the video of her jaw-dropping first performance. The video has now been seen more than 100 million times on video sharing site YouTube.

Though she ultimately lost in the finale, she signed a record deal with Britain's Got Talent and American Idol judge Simon Cowell.

Some have expressed concern about her health, however, after she was hospitalized for exhaustion immediately after the show ended and has withdrawn from or postponed a number of performances on her subsequent tour.