Month: December 2007

Underwood Earns Multiple Year-End Accolades and Is the Billboard 200 Top-Selling Female Artist of 2007

Carrie’s 6x-Platinum Debut, Some Hearts, Makes History as Billboard’s Top Country Album for the Second Year

Nashville, TN – She is the preeminent female country artist of the past two years, and now, reigning ACM Top Female Vocalist, double GRAMMY winner, and back-to-back CMA Female Vocalist of the Year Carrie Underwood sees her 19 Recordings/Arista Records/Arista Nashville album, Carnival Ride, simultaneously RIAA-certified Gold, Platinum, and Double Platinum for sales of two million units.

Released on October 23, Carnival Ride has already launched the multi-week #1 smash, “So Small,” Underwood’s fifth consecutive country chart-topper after four #1 singles from her 6x-Platinum debut blockbuster, Some Hearts. Carrie’s continued success is celebrated in the year-end issue of Billboard, where she is #1 across multiple categories including Top Country Artist and Top Country Artist – Female (both based on sales and airplay), and #1 among Top Country Album Artists (based on sales). Outside the country categories, Carrie’s phenomenal 2007 is clear to see in the all-genre Billboard 200 Artist Recap, which ranks the pride of Checotah, Oklahoma, as the #1 best-selling female artist of the 2007 chart year.

Billboard also shows Carrie’s juggernaut Some Hearts as the Top Country Album for the second consecutive year, making Carrie the first female artist in Billboard history to earn back-to-back honors for Top Country Album. Only one other artist – Charlie Rich, in ’73 and ’74, with his landmark Behind Closed Doors – has ever accomplished this feat.

Based on cumulative SoundScan sales now in excess of 6.1 million copies, Some Hearts this year became the best-selling female country debut in history. No album – in any genre – to release since Some Hearts (on November 15, 2005) has surpassed the disc’s powerhouse sales to date.

On the airplay front, the 2007 Year in Music recap from R&R reflects the strength of Carrie’s support at country radio, where she is the year’s #1 female artist.

Carrie also scored outside of country radio, where “Before He Cheats” (a five-week #1 country single) recently spent a mammoth 64 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, earning the longest chart run of any Hot 100 single this decade.

Fans can soon be listening for her new single, “All-American Girl,” as well as toasting New Year’s Eve with Carrie when she performs live in New York City’s Times Square on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2008 on ABC.

‘Tis the season for giving and on Monday, Dec. 17, Great American Country (GAC) will launch “12 6 Strings of Christmas,” a three-day, primetime sweepstakes giveaway of 12 six-stringed Copley guitars autographed by some of country music’s hottest acts including Carrie Underwood,Trace Adkins, Brooks & Dunn, Faith Hill, Rascal Flatts, Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire, Dwight Yoakam, Jack Ingram, Josh Turner, Marty Stuart and more!

Each night on Dec. 17, 18, and 19 during the hours of 7-11 pm ET, viewers can respond to the on-screen prompt containing a 1-800 number for their chance to be the 50th caller and win an individually autographed Copley guitar. Every night yields four chances but the only way to win is by watching the network!

For more information, including complete rules for GAC’s “12 6 Strings of Christmas” sweepstakes visit GACTV.com. (https://www.gactv.com/gac/sweepstakes/article/0,,GAC_26084_5761250,00.html)

GAC is offered on Ch. 167 on DISH Network and on Ch. 326 on DIRECTV; check your local cable listings to search for GAC in your area!

LOS ANGELES, CA, DECEMBER 11, 2007 – D. Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2008 will rock in the New Year with special live performances from Times Square by Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers.

Celebrating the New Year with good friends and great music is a tradition celebrated by all generations. New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2008 will give American’s an opportunity to do just that by featuring performances by some of the biggest names in music.

Country Music’s hottest performer Carrie Underwood, TV & recording star Miley Cyrus and teen sensations the Jonas Brothers will perform live in front of hundreds of thousands of people and millions more viewers at home from stages in Times Square. Fergie, Akon, Natasha Bedingfield, Sean Kingston, OneRepublic, Plain White T’s, Taylor Swift and will.i.am will celebrate and perform during the Hollywood Party segments of the broadcast.

The special will be broadcast on ABC and be hosted by Clark and Ryan Seacrest from New York and Fergie from Hollywood. It will kick off with Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2008 from 10-11 p.m. ET/PT. After taking a break from 11 to 11:30 p.m. for local news, the specials will resume at 11:35 p.m. for reports on the final minutes of the year 2007, the traditional Times Square countdown to midnight and more special musical performances. Marysol Castro, Good Morning America Weekend weather and features correspondent, will report from Times Square and Dancing with the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba, will make an appearance at the Hollywood Party.

Two-time Grammy winner and a double nominee this year, Carrie Underwood, recently debuted her new album Carnival Ride at #1, selling over half a million copies in its first week. It immediately became the best-selling debut of any female artist in 2007 at that time, earning the highest debut-week sales of any sophomore country album in over a decade. The American Idol 2005 champion, Underwood is the reigning CMA and ACM Female Vocalist of The Year. In addition to her 2 Grammys she has garnered 4 CMA Awards, 5 ACM awards, 4 American Music Awards, 8 Billboard Music Awards, 4 CMT Awards, 2 People’s Choice Awards, and more.

Carrie has has been nominated for two GRAMMYs! She is nominated in the following categories:

Best Female Country Vocal Performance for “Before He Cheats”
and Best Country Collaboration for “Oh Love” with Brad Paisley

Congrats also to Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins, the songwriters of “Before He Cheats” for their two nominations: Song of the Year and Best Country Song for “Before He Cheats”

The GRAMMY Awards will air live on February 10th, 2008 at 8pm (EST)on CBS.