Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride Nabs No. 1 on Billboard's Charts

Carrie Underwood hit country music's scene in 2005 after she won season 4 of the hit show American Idol. Since then her debut album has sold 6 million copies in the U.S. and won her nearly every award created to man, including the Grammy Awards. With the pressure built from her recent success, she recorded her sophomore effort Carnival Ride. Released last week, she has found herself on top of the Billboard chart for the first time in any album category.

Carrie had tough competition in both her genre and the genres of music that typically dominate the charts. Her newly released LP, which includes four songs penned by the country Idol herself, sold over 527,000 copies. This pushed Carrie's release to the top of the Billboard Top 200 Album chart, making this her first Billboard No. 1 for her records.

Carrie's debut effort, Some Hearts, was strong and only boasted 315,000 copies sold debuting at No. 2. The sophomore record also makes this week the best sales week for a solo country artist since 2004 when Shania Twain's greatest hits disc sold only a few thousand more.

Underwood is not shy to having top success. Her single "Before He Cheats" shot to No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs and remained there for five weeks. Earlier this year she won two Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her hit "Jesus, Take The Wheel." The latter remained No. 1 on Billboard's Country chart for six weeks, just two weeks shy of the previous record held in 1964 with Connie Smith's "Once A Day." Her current single "So Small" is another tune Carrie can add to her Top 5 music chartings. Music isn't the only thing for which she's won top awards. A few short months ago, Victoria's Secret named her Sexiest Female Musician.

Later this month, Carrie will be releasing a new music video for "Ever After," an original song used in the Disney movie Enchanted.