When the smoke was cleared and all the numbers were counted, SoundScan reported that Carrie Underwood’s new CD, Carnival Ride, sold 527,101 copies during its first week of release to place the American Idol queen at No. 1 on Billboard country albums chart and the Billboard 200 pop chart. It sets a record as the highest first week sales in SoundScan history for a sophomore country album, and it also gives her the highest selling debut week of any female artist in 2007. Her digital sales soared to 44,928 in the first week, the largest country debut in digital album chart history.

Just so you know, Rascal Flatts‘ sales debut a few weeks ago was 546,505, the highest so far in 2007. Also of interest, Raising Sand, the new album by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, sold 112,308 units in its first week out. This doesn’t seem like we’re falling behind in CD sales, does it? By the way, when Carrie was told her numbers, she acknowledged the people who are truly responsible for her success and said, “I want to share a sincere thanks to all my fans for supporting me over the past two years and for making my dreams come true.”