ON MAY 11, A DAY AFTER HER 18TH BIRTHday, Charice Pempengco appeared for the fourth time on ?The Oprah Winfrey Show,? where she performed her hit single ?Pyramid? with Virgin Islands R&B singer Iyaz.

Toward the end of the show, host Winfrey was seen giving away copies of Charice?s self-titled US debut album to the studio audience.

That guest stint was a well-timed promotional activity to help push album sales.

On the same day, Warner Music, Charice?s record label overseas, released the CD in the United States and Canada. The following week, it landed at No. 8 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart, with sales of 43,000 copies in the United States alone.

It is currently at No. 4 on the Canadian album chart.

The album was next released in the Philippines (May 12), Korea (May 20) and Brazil (May 27).

It will hit stores in Japan on July 7. Japanese record executives are reportedly very keen on breaking the petite Filipina singer into the lucrative Japanese market.

The album contains 12 tracks (with one bonus cut), 11 of which are originals written and produced by several teams of European composers.

Executive producer is David Foster, the Canadian songwriter and former member of the band Skylark (?Wildflower?) who went on to produce hits for Whitney Houston and a host of other artists. Foster also discovered Celine Dion, Josh Groban and Michael Buble.

Shortly before the release of her album, the Inquirer asked Charice if she had a birthday wish. She replied: ?My wild wish is to be nominated at the Grammys for Best New Artist. Just to be nominated is enough.? Pocholo Concepcion