Last summer, singer/songwriter Claude Kelly told Billboard he hoped to work with Kelly Clarkson in the future. Six months later, not only has he co-written the pop singer's latest single, "My Life Would Suck Without You," but he's sharing in its record-breaking success.

As previously reported, the song jumps 97-1 this week on the Billboard Hot 100, setting a record for the largest leap to the top in the history of the chart.

"This is a huge deal for me. I'm beyond words," the 28-year-old New York native tells Billboard. "I feel very accomplished and relieved to know that hard work definitely pays off."

The lead single from Clarkson's March 17 RCA album "All I Ever Wanted," "My Life Would Suck Without You" was co-written with writer/producer Max Martin (Britney Spears) and songwriter Dr. Luke (Katy Perry). "Max had an idea of some of the concepts. They came up with the music, Max threw some ideas at me, and then they threw me in the mix," Kelly says of the songwriting process.

The song is Kelly's second top 10 Hot 100 this week. He also co-wrote Britney Spears' "Circus," which is No. 10 after peaking at No. 3 last month.

Coming up, look for Kelly's work on new albums from R. Kelly ("Expect a creative, soulful, classic R. Kelly record," he says), Toni Braxton, Leona Lewis, OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, Chrisette Michele and Corbin Bleu. Some songs he worked on with Jennifer Hudson are also likely to appear on a re-release of her self-titled J debut.