Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 10/12/2011 at 2:19 PM News

The Popdust Files: american idol, Billboard, clear as day, country, sales, scotty mccreery

YEAHHH SCOTTY. After a couple weak first-week debuts for American Idol winners’ inaugural releases—Kris Allen’s self-titled album sold 80k in its debut week, Lee DeWyze’s Live It Up just 39k—Season Ten winner Scotty McCreery appears to have reversed the trend with his Clear as Day, moving 197,000 copies in its first week. It’s the largest sales number for an Idol winner’s debut in its first week since David Cook sold 280,000 copies of his self-titled release, and remarkably, it’s also the first #1 debut for any winner’s first album since Season Two winner Ruben Studdard’s Soulful topped the charts back in 2003.

In addition to all this Idol milestoning, Scotty makes some chart history for all of Billboard as well. By debuting at #1 at the tender age of 18—he officially turned voting age just a couple days ago—he becomes the youngest male artist to ever debut on top of the charts with his premier release, beating out the previous record-holder (Omarion for O back in 2005) by over two years. He also becomes the first country act of any kind to debut at #1 with their first album. No biggie.

Good showing, Scotty. We may still find you a little creepy, but clearly the people have spoken on this one.

[Billboard]