Selena Gomez has been a true winner these past days. After celebrating her 21st birthday last week -- and receiving a Justin Bieber cake at that -- she has finally posted a number 1 record on the Billboard 200 chart, throwing another superstar off the top spot.

The young singer's fourth studio album "Stars Dance" has been a huge milestone for Gomez. Aside from it being her first solo effort -- she used to perform with her band "The Scene" -- this is also her first time breaking into the top of the album hits chart.

According to Fox News Latino, Nielsen Soundscan has reported 97,000 copies of the album sold in its first week. This was enough to drop superstar rapper Jay-Z and his twelfth album "Magna Carta Holy Grail" to the second spot.

Notably, this is also the first time that the former Disney Channel star debuted higher than Top 4 in the charts. Her first album "Kiss & Tell" under the banner "Selena Gomez and The Scene" entered the Billboard 200 at number 9 in 2009. "A Year Without Rain" released in 2010, and 2011's "When the Sun Goes Down" both debuted at number 4.

The success of "Stars Dance" could also be attributed to the positive reception of the carrier "Come & Get It" which showed a new and more daring side of the former teen star.

"Genuinely, the whole record is me being a woman and wanting to explore that and being comfortable in my skin and my body, and exuding confidence," Gomez explained, reports Fox News Latino. "People speculate or think what they want to think, but it's been really fun for me to kind of explore what I want to explore."

Always grateful to her fans, the star sent out a thank you tweet to her 16 million followers.

"#1! From the Stars Dance tour and lil G... THANK YOU" Selena tweeted, together with an Instagram image of her tour crew.

Following the success of the album, Selena Gomez will be embarking on a world tour that starts this month. For details on the venues and dates, click here.