Bucky Covington

'Idol' vet Covington tops country charts

By Zap2it.com
4/27/2007

If you wanted yet another indication of the power of "American Idol," try this one on for size: The top country artist in the country this week is Bucky Covington.

Stop laughing!

Covington, who finished eighth on last season's "American Idol," sold 61,000 copies of his self-titled Lyric Street debut album.

On the main Billboard album chart, that put Covington behind Avril Lavigne's "The Best Damn Thing" (286,000 copies moved), Nine Inch Nails' "Year Zero" (187,000 sold) and the "NOW 24" compilation (68,000 sold).

On the Country Top 75, though, nobody can top Bucky, according to Nielsen Soundscan figures.

Want some impressive statistics about Bucky's debut? Only two other country acts -- Tim McGraw and Martina McBride -- have debuted in the top four on the overall Billboard charts this year and Bucky is the only new country act to debut in the top five so far.

Not impressed yet? The 61,000 albums sold represents 2007's biggest unit debut from any new country artist, but also the best first week sales and highest Top 200 chart position for any new male country artist since Miley Cyrus's dad Billy Ray moved 90,000 copies of "Some Gave All" in its premiere week in 1992.

Covington still has a ways to go to keep up with last season's "Idol" album champ Chris Daughtry. The rocker's partially self-titled debut has gone double-platinum and is still the seventh best-selling album in the land after 22 weeks on the charts.

By Zap2it.com