New Carrie Underwood on the charts

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood is making waves and making history with her compelling new single, “Something in the Water,” the first single from her December 9 album release, Greatest Hits: Decade #1.  Released on Monday, September 29, “Something in the Water” has amassed more than 124,000 digital sales to date, earning the highest first-week sales tally of Underwood’s career.  The sales figure also marks the best opening-week sales of any female country artist in 2014.

On the Billboard HOT 100 Something In The Water entered the chart at #24. 

On its official airplay impact date, “Something in the Water” set the all-time record for a country single at Mediabase, achieving a massive 144 total stations on impact date. 

In all, the single tallies a whopping 157 first-week stations on board, including Billboard and Country Aircheck reporting stations.

On the Mediabase country airplay chart, “Something in the Water” explodes onto the chart at #25, tying Underwood’s previous personal-best debut (2007’s smash, “So Small”) and also tying the highest debut of any artist in 2014.

On the Billboard Country Airplay chart, Underwood further notches a career-high chart entry, as the single debuts at #17, simultaneously achieving the year’s highest debut for a solo artist.

Named last week’s USA Today Song of the Week, the publication praised “Something in the Water,” lauding the song’s production and “the purity” of Underwood’s vocals.

JHud back on the charts

The Season 3 Miss American Idol finalist and Oscar winner, Jennifer Hudson debuts at No. 2 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums with her third album JHud (24,000 copies sold in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan). On the Billboard 200, the new set enters at No. 10; her first two began and peaked at No. 2. The rank is familiar to Hudson, as its her third set to peak in the runner-up slot. Her last release, I Remember Me, also debuted and peaked at No. 2 (165,000) in 2011. Her 2008 eponymous debut also reached No. 2 with 56,000 sold in its first full week.  The new album's "It's Your World" (featuring R. Kelly) bullets at No. 12 on the Adult R&B singles chart with a 7 percent rise in spins, according to Nielsen BDS.

CMA Awards 2014

Country Music's Biggest Night is coming up on Wed. Nov. 5th. That's when the 48th Annual CMA Awards will be handed out. For the 7th year in a row, the Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner, Carrie Underwood, will be co-hosting the show along with Brad Paisley.

The nominations were just announced today and American Idol judge, Keith Urban, is up for Male Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year for his latest release, Fuse. He is also nominated in the category Musical Event of the Year for his duet with Miranda Lambert, We Were Us. Finally, he is up for the biggest award of the night, Entertainer of the Year.

The Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner, Carrie Underwood is also a multiple nominee to go along with her hosting duties. The video for Something Bad is nominated for Video of the Year and her collaboration with Miranda Lambert is also up for Musical Event of the Year. Carrie also has her ninth nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year.

Caleb Johnson - Testify

I think we all owe Candice Glover an apology. A lot was made in February when Glover’s Music Speaks sold a tepid 19K copies in its first week. That was the slimmest first-week sales tally ever for the debut album by an American Idol winner. Glover relinquishes that dubious record this week to this year’s Idol champ, Caleb Johnson, whose Testify sold just 11K copies in its first week.

Testify enters the Billboard 200 at #24, which is also the lowest chart entry position ever for anIdol champ’s first album. (The old record here was Lee DeWyze's Live It Up, which debuted and peaked at #19.)

At this point, it seems obvious that the fault lies not with any individual contestant, but with the agingIdol franchise itself. Idol may have a little more life left in it as a TV show, but it seems to have simply run its course an important album-selling force.

It was nice while it lasted.

The first post-Idol albums by the first five winners each sold 240K or more copies in their first weeks. The first to fall short of that level was Jordin Sparks's Jordin Sparks, which sold 119K in its first week in November 2007. Season 7 winner David Cook got the franchise back on track when David Cook sold 280K in its first week in November 2008.

The first winner to fall short of 100K was Season 8 champ Kris Allen, whose Kris Allen sold 80K in its first week in November 2009. He had to live with that embarrassment for exactly one year, until Season 9 winner Lee DeWyze's Live It Up sold about half as many copies (39K) in its first week in November 2010.

Season 10 champ Scotty McCreery reversed the downward trend (and not a moment too soon!) when Clear As Day sold 197K copies in its first week in October 2011. Season 11 winner Phillip Phillips did nearly as well when The World From the Side of the Moon sold 169K in its first week in November 2012.

But now we’re back in the cellar. Everything runs its course eventually. Glee isn’t the force it once was, either. But the fact that so few people are interested in buying the first album by an Idol winner is amazing. The ratings of the TV show are also down, but not to this degree. Nielsen reported that 10.53 million people watched the Idol finale in May. That’s about one-fourth of the 38.06 million that watched the Season 2 finale in May 2003 (the top-rated Idol finale ever).

A contributing factor, of course, is that album sales are down overall. This isn’t just an Idol problem. But industry-wide sales declines can’t explain a drop-off this steep.

You may be surprised to learn which Idol winner’s debut album sold the most copies in its first week.Kelly Clarkson? Carrie Underwood? Nope. It’s Season 2 winner Ruben Studdard, whose Soulfulsold 417K copies in its first week. That tally, as good as it was, fell short of the first-week sales by Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken, whose Measure of a Man had sold 613K copies just eight weeks earlier.

Carrie wins the Video of the Year - AGAIN!!!

The 2014 CMT Video Music Awards was a very fun night of great music, but unlike previous years when it included a parade of Miss American Idol winners and finalists, the only one to be featured prominently was the Supreme Miss American Idol, Season 4 winner, Carrie Underwood.

She graced the stage once to present an award, but we had to wait until the very end of the show to see her again. 

The best performance of the night was saved for last as Carrie rocked the stage to perform her latest single, Something Bad (a duet with Miranda Lambert). It's a high energy anthem that is super fun. 

Immediately after the amazing performance of Something Bad, the Supreme Miss American Idol's name was called to the stage to accept the biggest award of the night. Carrie Underwood and See You Again won the CMT Buckle for the 2014 VIDEO OF THE YEAR!

This is especially impressive in that she just won this same top honor last year when her video for Blown Away won the CMT Buckle for the 2013 Video of the Year AND her video for Good Girl won the CMT Buckle for the 2012 Video of the Year!!! 

And the Season 13 Miss American Idol winner is.....

The Season 13 grand finale was jam packed with star studded performers including Lady Antebellum, Jason Mraz, KISS, and John Legend. The only Miss American Idol winner to come back was Season 11 Miss American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips. While he has become quite successful since his win, the record shows that he was never one of my favorites as I kept hoping he would just get sent home. Tonight I gained an entirely new appreciation of his talent though. He performed his latest single, Raging Fire after Season 13 finalist Sam Woolf made a horrifying attempt at Phillip's hit song Home. It's like this: Sam is so awful he made Phillip Phillips sound good!!!! 

Caleb and Jena shared the stage for one last duet together on It Takes Two. They then both went center stage to have the final results revealed. The Season 13 Miss American Idol winner is.... CALEB JOHNSON!

He sang his debut single As Long As You Love Me, and the glitter fell around him. After three years of trying out for American Idol he finally made it all the way to the top. It was emotionally overwhelming and he sang half of the song because he was too busy hugging people and fighting back his tears of joy.  

Caleb VS. Jena

The Season 13 finals is a match between the powerhouse rocker Caleb Johnson and Jena Irene.

Caleb tore the roof off the place with his electrifying performances of Dream On, Maybe I'm Amazed and his debut single, As Long As You Love Me. He has an outstanding vocal range that looks effortless while he is commanding the stage and delivering a top notch rock concert.

Jena doesn't even come close to having his stage presence and vocal abilities. Her version of Dog Days Are Over fell completely flat and her cover of Can't Help Falling In Love was boring. Her debut single, We Are One, was an unfocused mess.

All season long I have been waiting for Jena to get eliminated, but here she is in the finals. Clearly she is going to win so there is no point in predicting that Caleb will take the crown. That simply isn't going to happen.