Kelly Clarkson has followed her first number one single in the UK by agreeing a worldwide publishing deal with Kobalt.

The first-ever winner of American Idol's administration tie-up with the independent publisher comes in the wake of her fourth 19/RCA album All I Ever Wanted - whose standard version includes six Clarkson co-writes - debuting at number one in the US, while spawning the trans-Atlantic chart-topping single My Life Would Suck Without You.

That single was co-written with Warner/Chappell's Claude Kelly by Max Martin and Lukasz Gottwald, both of whom are also part of Kobalt's roster. The track has surpassed 1m sales in the US alone, while its parent album sold more than 254,000 units during its first week of business.

Kobalt CEO and founder Willard Ahdritz says, "We are thrilled to be working with Kelly Clarkson and we look forward to a long, successful relationship. In addition to our global admin and licensing services, she'll especially be working closely with our global creative executives and song pluggers, including Whitney Daane in Nashville and Benjamin Groff in Los Angeles, to collaborate with other artists and writers and to expand opportunities for her songwriting."