People Still Buy Music: Scotty McCreery makes chart history for country singers, young people, Howdy Doody lookalikes

By Steven Hyden  |  October 12, 2011 | 4:13pm
Aux Features Music

Our nation's reigning American Idol winner Scotty McCreery might be a clean-cut 18-year-old from North Carolina whose idea of rock-star debauchery is drinking two-percent milk, but he proved to be a divisive figure among the show's fans. Some people loved his preternaturally deep and hickory-smoked vocals; others gritted their teeth through his "Clay Aiken goes country" act. But even if this young man has not yet matured into a grown-ass "Scott McCreery," he seems to have developed into a genuine star, with his record Clear As Day becoming the first debut by a country singer to enter the Billboard chart at No. 1, with 197,000 copies sold. He's also the youngest person ever to make his chart premiere at the top, beating out Omarion, who was 20 when he went to No. 1 with 2005's O.

McCreery is also the first Idol contestant to start off their career with a No. 1 album in seven years, dating back to the show's salad days with Kelly Clarkson and Ruben Studdard. But it could possibly happen again next week, with second-place finisher Lauren Alaina's new Wildflower.

Also debuting in the Top 10 this week are Feist's Metals at No. 7 (38,000), Rodney Atkins' Take A Bow at No. 8 (35,000), and Jack's Mannequin's People And Things at No. 9 (31,000).

Rounding out the Top 10 this week are: Adele's unstoppable 21 (112,000 copies), Tony Bennett's Duets II (71,000), Lady Antebellum's Own The Night (58,000), J. Cole's Cole World: The Sideline Story (54,000), Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV (53,000), and Blink-182's Neighborhoods (31,000, an 80 percent drop from last week). [Via Billboard]

 
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