Friday, October 14, 2011

Idol Sales: Scotty McCreery's Album Debuts at #1; First Idol Winner In 8 Years To Top The Billboard 200

Wow. While I was expecting this to actually happen, Scotty McCreery proved that Season 9 was obviously a fluke in terms of sales and popularity and that American Idol is still a legitimate talent search after 10 long years.

The numbers are in and Scotty McCreery debuts at #1 selling 197,000 copies of his debut album, Clear As Day. Not only did he topped the charts this week, but he also broke a couple of records:
  • First country act to debut at #1 with their first studio album.
  • Youngest male artist to open at the top of the chart with their debut release, at 18 years old.
  • First American Idol Winner since Ruben Studdard to debut at #1.
  • Highest first-week album sales of any solo country artist in 2011.
  • First debut by a new country artist to top 100,000 in first-week sales since Carrie Underwood’s in 2005.
Congratulations, Scotty! To be honest, his genre isn't exactly something I’m into, but I'm all for success especially if it's from American Idol. These are impressive numbers after Lee DeWyze's disappointing sales last year. As for you Simon Cowell, suck it! HAHA. It would be interesting to see how well the winner of X Factor US will do after the show.

As usual, I'll post a ranking of all the winners just for comparison. But keep in mind, the numbers are obviously deteriorating from year-to-year because of so many factors like economic situation of the United States, illegal downloads etc. Oh, and people doesn't seem to be into albums recently. So yes, Scotty's numbers are impressive.

RANKINGS AFTER THE JUMP!

DEBUT ALBUM - first week of sales [Winners]

1. Ruben Studdard - “Soulful” - 416,569 (# 1)
2. Carrie Underwood - “Some Hearts” - 314,549 (# 2)
3. Taylor Hicks - “Taylor Hicks” - 298,199 (# 2)
4. Kelly Clarkson - “Thankful” - 297,000 (# 1)
5. David Cook - “David Cook” - 279,578 (#3)
6. Fantasia Barrino - “Free Yourself” - 239,389 (#8)
7. Scotty McCreery - "Clear As Day" - 196,739 (#1)
8. Jordin Sparks - “Jordin Sparks” - 119,119 (#10)
9. Kris Allen - "Kris Allen" - 80,000 (#11)
10. Lee DeWyze- "Live It Up" - 39,000 (#19)

DEBUT ALBUM - first week of sales [All]

01. Clay Aiken - “Measure of a Man” - 612,859 (# 1)
02. Ruben Studdard - “Soulful” - 416,569 (# 1)
03. Carrie Underwood - “Some Hearts” - 314,549 (# 2)
04. Daughtry - “Daughtry” - 303,677 (#2)
05. Taylor Hicks - “Taylor Hicks” - 298,199 (# 2)
06. Kelly Clarkson - “Thankful” - 297,000 (# 1)
07. David Cook - “David Cook” - 279,578 (#3)
08. Fantasia Barrino - “Free Yourself” - 239,389 (#8)
09. Bo Bice - “The Real Thing” - 226,976 (# 4)
10. Jennifer Hudson - “Jennifer Hudson” - 217,185 (#2)
11. Adam Lambert - "For Your Entertainment" - 198,446 (#3)
12. Scotty McCreery - "Clear As Day" - 196,739 (#1)
13. David Archuleta - “David Archuleta” - 183,000 (#2)
14. Jordin Sparks - “Jordin Sparks” - 119,119 (#10)
15. Katharine McPhee - “Katharine McPhee” - 115,761 (# 2)
16. Blake Lewis - “Blake Lewis” - 98,000 (#10)
17. Elliott Yamin - “Elliott Yamin” - 90,439 (#3)
18. Kris Allen - "Kris Allen" - 80,000 (#11)
19. Kellie Pickler - “Small Town Girl” - 79,133 (#9)
20. Danny Gokey - "My Best Days" -  65,000 (#4)
21. Bucky Covington - “Bucky Covington” - 60,814 (#4)
22. Crystal Bowersox - "Farmer's Daughter" - 58,000 (#28)
23. Josh Gracin - “Joshua Gracin” - 57,048 (#11)
24. Justin Guarini- “Justin Guarini” - 57,000 (# 20)
25. Kimberly Locke - "One Love" - 56,894 (#16)
26. Diana DeGarmo - "Blue Skies" - 47,000 (#52)
27. Tamyra Gray - "Dreamer" - 39,091 (#23)
28. Lee DeWyze - "Live It Up" - 39,000 (#19)
29. Allison Iraheta - "Just Like You" - 32,000 (#31)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

i still think lee is better than scotty.. but i like them both. just saying :D

Anonymous said...

it's because he sings country.
country has it's own market in America.

Anonymous said...

^^ But did you see the records Scotty had set for the genre itself. If you reason out that he's country that's why he sold that much, then why didn't Danny Gokey had that same achievement? or Bucky Covington? Crystal Bowersox released a borderline country album and it didn't sell well. Kellie Pickler also didn't sell that well compared to Scotty.

Anonymous said...

American Idol desperately needed to post big numbers after a couple of lackluster seasons, so Scotty was the beneficiary of a lot more promo than either Kris Allen or Lee DeWyze had. The only other artist in the last two years to receive this level of promotional backing was Adam Lambert.

DAM THE NATION said...

Anonymous: And that was the case with Lee DeWyze, I suppose?

Anonymous said...

because he didn't sing country!
so hard talking to all of you, huh?

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