Scotty McCreery's debut album, Clear as Day, had clear sailing to the top of The Billboard 200 this week to become the first Idol debut album to enter the charts at No. 1 since Ruben Studdard did it in 2003. Though other Idol winners had larger sales weeks (Scotty sold 179,000) albums are selling fewer copies these days.
In addition to reversing the trend of declining exposure from Idol alums (last year's winner Lee DeWyze was dropped from RCA recently after his debut bombed and Season 7 winner David Cook has fared poorly with his sophomore release) Scotty becomes the youngest male artist to debut at No. 1 and the first country artist to debut at the top on the all-genres chart.
Click here for my reviews of Scotty's album and runner-up Lauren Alaina's debut, Wildflower, which will see chart action next week. Follow on Twitter @HowardCohen