Carrie Underwood's new album is making a thundering entrance onto the new Billboard 200. The singer's third CD, "Play On," is entering the all-genre chart at number one with first-week sales of 318-thousand, and becomes the former "American Idol" champ's second consecutive chart-topping debut. Her 2007 release "Carnival Ride" opened at number one with 527-thousand albums sold in its first week out. Underwood's 2005 debut, "Some Hearts," opened at number two with sales of 315-thousand copies. In addition, "Play On" enjoyed the largest sales week for any female act in 2009, and it's the second largest opening week for any country artist this year. Only Rascal Flatts has done better. Back in April the trio's "Unstoppable" bowed on to the charts at number one with sales of 351-thousand. Underwood's figures well surpass last week's number one, the soundtrack to the Michael Jackson film "This Is It," which falls to number two with 196-thousand albums sold.Meanwhile, Taylor Swift's "Fearless" remains in the Billboard 200 top ten. Seventy-thousand copies of the album left stores last week to put the disc at number six on the chart.
Here are the the top ten albums on this week's Billboard 200:
1. Carrie Underwood -- "Play On" (318-thousand albums)
2. Michael Jackson -- "This Is It" (196-thousand albums)
3. Andrea Bocelli -- "My Christmas" (149-thousand albums)
4. "Glee" Cast -- "Glee" Soundtrack (113-thousand albums)
5. Various Artists -- "Now 32" (102-thousand albums)
6. Taylor Swift -- "Fearless" (70-thousand albums)
7. Weezer -- "Raditude" (66-thousand albums)
8. Michael Buble -- "Crazy Love" (59-thousand albums)
9. Sting -- "If On A Winter's Night" (59-thousand albums)
10. Various Artists -- "New Moon" Soundtrack (52-thousand albums)
