Carrie Underwood is living the dream

Carrie: 'It's so weird having people gush over me and refer to me as a celebrity.'

It's been a little more than 15 minutes of fame for American Idol-country singer Carrie Underwood. In fact, she's making history with the highest-selling country album by a debut artiste, Some Hearts.

YOU might say that wholesome country gal Carrie Underwood has changed the face of American Idol forever. For one thing, she brought country music into Idol, spurring on other country hopefuls (for better or for worse) like Kelly Pickler and Bucky Covington this season and perhaps even prompting the show's producers to weave country music as one of the weekly themes (much to Simon Cowell's distaste).

And while we may never know if Underwood inspired young Garret Johnson (the cutesy cowboy who had, prior to the Idol auditions, only sung in front of his turkey), we do know for sure that her debut album, Some Hearts, is rocking the country music charts, securing Underwood a place in the history books (at least in Nashville) for coming out with the highest-selling country album (it has sold more than two million copies to date) by a debut artiste.


Carrie: ‘It's so weird having people gush over me and refer to me as a celebrity.'
Produced by Mark Bright and Dann Huff, Some Hearts was released last November and features hits like Jesus, Take the Wheel and the title track.

The album debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart, selling 314,000 copies in its first week. It went gold after only two weeks and remained at the top spot for five consecutive weeks. In January, Some Hearts went double platinum.

Underwood, however, is taking the success of her album in her stride, choosing to enjoy each moment as it comes, for however long it may be.