Michael Becker/FOXHow big does America love Scotty McCreery?
Sure, the country-singing teen from Garner, N.C., won the 10th season of American Idol—but, for the last eight years, that honor has amounted to a hill of beans when it comes to chart-topping debut albums.
McCreery's freshman effort, Clear as Day, came out last week. Did its sales make him a Carrie Underwood or a Ruben Studdard?
Guess what? Scotty's a Ruben—which is a good thing (for now)!
Studdard was the last Idol winner to see his first album debut in the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 album chart, and that's exactly where McCreery finds himself today after selling 196,739 copies (digital and CDs) over the past week.
Still, they apparently aren't making rabid fandom like they used to.
More than 400,000 copies of Studdard's Soulful were sold its first week out and Underwood's No. 2 debut with Some Hearts in November 2005 was thanks to 315,000 copies sold (and it ultimately became the best-selling album of 2006).
But his decent numbers still puts McCreery in elite club with only Studdard and O.G. Idol winner Kelly Clarkson. And Scotty's also kind of a Carrie, as well!
Clear as Day also debuted atop the country album sales chart, as did Some Hearts, and he's the first Idol winner since the season-four cutie to top 100,000 in first-week sales.
"My hopes were just to go out there and have fun and let people know that the album was out there," said McCreery, who just turned 18 Sunday. "Everybody hopes for the number one, but you never really expect it. To see it up there is pretty incredible. It's a very good birthday present! I can't think of anything to top it!"
At 17, McCreery was the youngest male winner in Idol's 10 seasons. He'll be singing the national anthem at the opening game of the World Series on Oct. 19.