10/31/2007 Stephen L. Betts As expected Carrie Underwood’s Carnival Ride has captured the top spot on the multi-genre Billboard 200, as well as the top spot on the country album chart. With first-week sales of 527,101, Carrie had the best debut week of any female artist in 2007. She also earns the highest debut-week sales of any sophomore country album in SoundScan history. But wait, there’s more! Digital sales of 44,928 have made Carnival Ride the largest country debut in digital album chart history. Following close behind on both charts is the debut of the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss collaboration, Raising Sand. And in the No. 3 spots on both charts is Gary Allan’s Living Hard, which sold over 69,000 in its first week.
