Better news for Fantasia: Album is No. 1

September is starting on a high note for Fantasia, less than a month after she reached a new low.

The Charlotte resident's third studio album, "Back To Me," debuted this week at No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B Albums chart and at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

With more than 117,000 units sold since its Aug. 24 release on J Records, "Back To Me" marks Fantasia’s first No. 1 R&B album and her highest Billboard Top 200 chart ranking.

The 26-year-old High Point native, winner of the third season of "American Idol," has granted several interviews in the wake of her suicide attempt last month, talking about what led up to it -- namely, her affair with a married man (Antwaun Cook, a T-Mobile salesman).

“At the time, I wasn’t thinking about anybody,” she tearfully told the Los Angeles Times recently. “I was so numb. I was so out of it. I’ve never been to that place before. It was so scary. It was the darkest place that anybody would want to be.”

Fantasia was scheduled to do an interview with the Observer on Aug. 11, but it was postponed the day after she was hospitalized at CMC-Pineville on Aug. 9. On Aug. 16, a Sony Music rep told the Observer, "No word yet but of course you'll be on the list. She can't discuss ANY of the recent events though." And on Monday, the same Sony rep told us the interview wouldn't be happening "anytime soon" ...