It’s apparently a week of firsts for Demi Lovato…

Not only has the 20-year-old part-Mexican American singer claimed the first MTV Video Music Award of her career, but now she’s earned her first No. 1 single on the Billboard charts.

This week, the new The X Factor judge latest track, “Give Your Heart a Break,” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Songs chart.

“The reception for my single is so amazing,” Lovato told MTV News. “It’s been going up the charts for a while now and right now I actually have my first #1 single, so that’s really exciting for me. It means so much to me. I never thought I’d be blessed enough to have this opportunity and here I am.”

The dance-pop ballad, the second single from Lovato’s third studio album Unbroken, was released at the beginning of the year—on January 23, 2012. The song has been Lovato’s biggest radio hit to date.

So why has this song taken so long to reach the No. 1 spot? Billy Steinberg, who co-wrote the song with Josh Alexander, recently offered an explanation to MTV News.

“You know, I just think it took a long time for numerous reasons. I think one, it’s not a trendy dance track. It’s kind of almost an old-school song with a verse and a chorus and a bridge. It’s kind of an old-fashioned song. … But she does have a devoted following and the fan base she does have really pushed the song and Hollywood Records did a great job to promote the song. And the fact that it was a great song that was really sung well, it just built up steam. It took time, but it happened.”

“Give Your Heart a Break,” which Lovato performed on MTV’s New Year’s Eve show, has sold more than 1,000,000 digital copies. It was officially certified Platinum in the U.S. on August 15, 2012. And the music video for the track has been viewed on VEVO more than 35 million times.