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