Carrie Underwood back at #1

Carrie Underwood's "Play On" bows at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart this week, shifting 318,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

It's the country star and former "American Idol" champ's second album to top the Billboard 200, after her sophomore set "Carnival Ride" bowed in the penthouse with 527,000 in 2007. Underwood's debut effort, "Some Hearts," started at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in 2005 and at No. 1 on Top Country Albums with 315,000.

"Play On's" 318,000 sum is also the largest sales week for an album by a woman in 2009.

This debut at #1 arrives on the same day that the Season Four Miss American Idol winner co-hosts the CMA Awards with Brad Paisley. She performed her smash hit Cowboy Casanova which has been the #1 video on CMT's Top 20 countdown for three weeks now.

The big winner at the CMA's turned out to be the young woman who has been following in Carrie's footsteps all year. 19 year old Taylor Swift ended up winning the awards for Female Vocalist of the Year as well as Entertainer of the Year. Just like Carrie did earlier this year at the ACM's, Taylor ended up snagging the biggest prize of the night from the old boys club.

The next big award show of the season will be the American Music Awards Sun. Nov. 22nd. Once again Carrie Underwood and Chris Daughtry are the only Miss American Idol finalists who managed to get any nominations. Neither of last years top two, David Cook or David Archuleta, have made a ripple in the music awards season so far. The glaring omission from the 2009 American Music Awards nominations is Season One Miss American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson. She had a huge #1 smash early in the year with My Life Would Suck Without You and it is certainly deserving of recognition.

This year's top two, Kris Allen and Adam Lambert, are right at the beginning of their opportunity for ongoing success in the music world with new albums coming out this month. We'll just have to wait and see what happens....