On the Charts: Carrie Underwood Rules Debuts, "American Idol" Kingdom

The Big News: Carrie Underwood continued her quest to become the most successful American Idol ever, as her new album Carnival Ride cruised to the top of the Billboard charts with 527,101 copies sold in its debut week. By comparison, Kelly Clarkson, Underwood's closest AI competitor, sold 291,000 copies when My December debuted in June. Underwood dominated her fresh competition, selling 400,000-plus more copies than the number two, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' Raising Sand. Country's Gary Allan took the third spot, while System of a Down's Serj Tankian's first solo album Elect the Dead scored fourth with 65,998 copies.

Debuts: Prog-revivalists Coheed & Cambria's No World For Tomorrow entered the chart at number six with 61,849 units shifted while Neil Young's Chrome Dreams II grabbed the eleven hole and Say Anything's double-disc In Defense Of the Genre debuted at twenty-seven with 24,750. Further down the chart, Ryan Adams' new EP Follow The Lights came in at forty, while Ween's La Cucharacha came in at a fitting (for the band in question) sixty-nine. RS Breaking Artist Hurricane Chris hit the chart at twenty-four.

Last Week's Heroes: Defending champion Bruce Springsteen's Magic tumbled on down to twelve, thanks to a thirty-four percent sales drop. Last week's runner-up, Kid Rock's Rock N Roll Jesus, stayed in the top ten by grasping on to seven. The remainder of the chart, sans debuts, stayed relatively the same, but we expect changes by this time next week, when Britney Spears' Blackout and the new Backstreet Boys album should factor into the equation.

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Star Trek' Is Crazy Good
• 
  TV
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“Is It True”

Brenda Lee | 1964

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter