They say that the third time is a charm. Kellie Pickler's third studio album just hit the Billboard 200. It's her highest ranking debuting album to date.
Kellie Pickler debuted on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the Top 10 this week with her third consecutive Top 10 album, 100 Proof. The 11-song collection (twelve if ordered from iTunes) landed at No. 7, making it her highest charting album to date.
Not bad for a 25-year-old North Carolina girl who had no idea what calamari was five years ago...
"I was 19 when I got in line for 'American Idol,'" she recently told CNN. "Nobody knows who they are at 19; you're not supposed to. I did this whole thing backwards. You come off a show like "Idol" and you're a celebrity, but for what? You don't have a song on the radio, you don't have an album out. You've been singing cover songs and you haven't done anything really. You have to develop backwards as an artist. Become a celebrity first and figure out 'what kind of artist am I and where do I belong?'"
Still, Pickler has had a pretty impressive career since being discovered by the "American Idol" judges those few years ago and making it as a finalist on the top-rated reality singing contest. Although she finished sixth in the competition in Season 5, she parlayed her exposure and talent into a recording contract with BNA Records. That recording deal has produced three solid Top 10 albums, the first of which, Small Town Girl, was certified gold. To date, it remains her best selling set as well, moving over 875,000 copies.
Her eponymous sophomore collection has yet to be certified gold but given enough time, it is certain to do so. Besides, it is just a little over 50,000 copies away. A long career will see it get there via the bandwagon effect.
Both albums debuted and peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard 200.
From those albums, Pickler scored seven Top 30 hits on the country charts, including the gold single, "Red High Heels," from her first album and the platinum, "Best Days of Your Life," from her second. The latter, a tune she co-wrote with Taylor Swift, was also her highest charting song, peaking at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 2008.
100 Proof entered the charts with a hit already included. The single "Tough" was released in 2011 in anticipation of a fall album release. Scheduling setbacks pushed Pickler's latest offering back a little, and it was finally released on Jan. 24. The title track is slated to be its second single.
Pickler went with a more traditional sound for her latest album and contributed a little more in the writing department as well. She co-wrote six of the songs (seven if one counts the iTunes bonus track, "Arm Candy"). She co-wrote five on each of her first two albums, including the two biggest selling songs of her career.
"I branched out, wrote with different song writers; people I never thought in a million years that would write with me," she told CNN. "I just really got to take my time and really go back to the roots of country music and show who influenced me growing up. I'm happy that I had the freedom to sprinkle a little bit of that through the record."
Kellie Pickler appeared on "The View" Wednesday. According to her website, fans can catch up with her on Facebook on Feb. 3 when she hosts a chat at 1:00 p.m. EST on the Glamour Facebook page. Her fans along the Gulf Coast can see her on Feb. 18 when she performs at the IP Casino Resort in Biloxi, Mississippi.
(photo credit: minds-eye, Creative Commons)
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