Carrie Underwood takes “Play On” to No. 1, appears on Biography tonight
Oklahoma superstar Carrie Underwood sees her third album, “Play On,” debut amid a flurry of No. 1s, with first-week sales hitting a whopping 317,695 units to displace Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” as the No. 1 album in the nation.
The release earns the highest first-week sales of the year for any solo country artist and the best release-week tally for a female artist in any genre in 2009, according to a news release.
In addition to holding the No. 1 spot on both the country and pop album sales charts, “Play On” is also tops in digital sales, with 62,848 copies sold, making “Play On” country’s best-selling digital album debut of 2009.
It claims the No. 1 berth on Nielsen SoundScan’s digital country and overall digital album charts this week, as well as earning the No. 1 slot as iTunes’ top-selling album in all genres throughout release week.
The big first-week success of “Play On” makes the Checotah native the only country act in Nielsen SoundScan history to achieve first-week sales of more than 300,000 units on each of his or her first three albums.
The feat also extends to “American Idol,” where the Season Four winner is the first contestant to launch three albums in a row above the 300K threshold. Here 2005 debut, “Some Hearts,” has gone seven-times platinum, and 2007’s “Carnival Ride” is currently triple-platinum.
It’s been a week of No. 1s for Underwood, since “Cowboy Casanova,” the first smash single from “Play On,” hit the top at country radio, becoming her 11th single to top a key sales or airplay chart.
In addition, “Cowboy Casanova” also ranks as this week’s top-selling digital country single. Meanwhile, the music video for “Cowboy Casanova” continues its No. 1 roll on CMT’s Top 20 Countdown for the fifth consecutive week and for a third week atop GAC’s fan-voted video countdown.
A four-time Grammy winner, Academy of Country Music entertainer of the year, and three-time Country Music Association female vocalist winner and three-time reigning ACM female vocalist winner with total album sales now in excess of 11 million, Underwood first charmed the nation on “American Idol,” becoming an immediate fan-favorite.
Tonight, fans can tune-in for a look at Underwood’s life and career as the Biography Channel premieres “Biography – Carrie Underwood” at 9 p.m.
For more TV news, check out Penny Soldan’s always informative TV blog at http://blog.newsok.com/television.
-BAM
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