Roughstock: Blake Shelton Leads Slate of New Releases to Album Sales Chart
By: Matt Bjorke
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Danny Gokey was third. And even though he moved over 65,000 albums, his album was sold-out virtually everywhere which leads one to believe had there been more copies of My Best Days out in the market, he may have debuted higher than Blake Shelton and possibly would’ve passed Sade for the second slot on the Nielsen SoundScan Hot 200 charts. Gokey also managed to score the second highest Hot 200 debut, behind only Adam Lambert but ahead of winner Kris Allen and Alison Iraheta.
Read the full article: http://www.roughstock.com/blog/blake-shelton-leads-slate-of-new-releases-to-album-sales-chart/
Billboard.com: Danny Gokey’s ‘Days’ Starts Strong
Season eight American Idol finalist Danny Gokey claims the best first-week sales showing on Country Albums by a rookie male country act in 18 years, and the best opening week digital sum for any country newcomer, as “My Best Days” opens at No. 3 on the chart with 65,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album also opens at No. 4 on The Billboard 200.
Gokey’s start is the best debut for a male country solo artist since Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Some Gave All” blew in with 90,000 copies in June 1992, and bests fellow “Idol” alum Bucky Covington’s May 2007 self-titled debut, which started with 61,000 units.
Gokey’s digital tally is 19,000, and inks a new benchmark for first-week digital sales by a new country artist, previously set when Gloriana’s self-titled debut album sold 9,000 downloads last summer.
The title track from “Days” jumps s 31-29 in its 13th week on Country Songs and debuts at No. 63 (27,000 copies) on the Digital Songs chart.
Gokey performed “Days” on “American Idol” March 4, and is scheduled for a pair of March 13-14 [sic]* guest appearances on the WSM Grand Ole Opry, which airs at 9:00 PM (EST) both nights on Sirius XM satellite radio’s “The Roadhouse.
* iheartdannygokey.com correction:Danny will perform twice on March 13, 8-8:30 PM slot and 10:30-11 PM slot. There’s no Opry show on March 14.
via: Billboard.com: Danny Gokey’s ‘Days’ Starts Strong
DannyGokey.com: Danny Makes Chart History with Debut Album!
We don’t normally post industry news like this but with all the great things happening we wanted to share with all the people that made it possible. Congratulations to Danny on a job well done!
Danny Gokey Achieves Best First-Week Album Sales by a Debut Country Male in 18 Years!
My Best Days Makes History with Highest First-Week Digital Sales by a Debut Country Act.
Gokey Returns to the Grand Ole Opry This Weekend.
Danny Gokey powers his way into the chart record books this week, as his March 2 debut album, My Best Days, brought out the fans, with first-week sales of more than 65,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The accomplishment nets Gokey the best opening-week sales by a debut country male since 1992.
The soaring success of My Best Days includes a sizzling digital album tally in excess of 19,000 downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan, earning Danny a #1 berth in chart history with the best first-week digital album sales ever recorded by a debut country act.
The album’s total sales also earn My Best Days this week’s highest chart entry by a debut artist, landing at #3 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and #4 on the all-genre Billboard 200.
After crossing the country with an event-packed release week filled with in-store appearances, concerts, radio visits, and television – including a Thursday return to American Idol to sing his hit, “My Best Days Are Ahead of Me” – Gokey will be in Nashville this weekend for a March 13 performance on the Grand Ole Opry. Gokey made his Opry debut earlier this year and will play both Opry shows this Saturday, in addition to meeting fans at a CD signing from 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM at The Opry Shop.
via: http://www.dannygokey.com/news/danny-makes-chart-history-debut-album
USA Today: Idol track sales: Kris Allen passes a million; Danny Gokey, John Legend see huge gains
Kris Allen easily passes the million mark this week with Live Like You’re Dying. Selling more than 57,000 downloads, it comes in at No. 22 on Nielsen SoundScan’s Top Digital Tracks chart. Adam Lambert comes in at No. 23, selling almost 54,000 copies of Whataya Want From Me.
Danny Gokey’s American Idol performance paid big dividends for My Best Days Are Ahead of Me. The track’s week-over-week sales increased 1,270 percent, the 28,000 downloads it sold last week nearly half its cumulative total.
Read the full article: USA Today: Idol track sales: Kris Allen passes a million; Danny Gokey, John Legend see huge gains
Rolling Stone: Danny Gokey Debuts at #4
The Big News: After spending the last three weeks at Number Two, Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now recaptured the top spot from Sade’s Soldier of Love in its sixth week on the Billboard 200, selling 126,000 copies to push past the platinum mark. After a three-week reign, Soldier of Love settled into Number Two with 79,000 copies sold. Below the resilient Top Two, four debuts lined up in Number Three through Six: Blake Shelton’s Hillbilly Bone, American Idol finalist Danny Gokey’s My Best Days, the Almost Alice soundtrack inspired by Tim Burton’s new movie and Lifehouse’s Smoke & Mirrors.
Gokey’s Number Four debut marks the second-best Idol opening week by a Season Eight contestant. Adam Lambert’s For Your Entertainment opened at Number Three in November 2009, though Lambert’s debut week sales of 198,000 far exceeded the 65,000 Gokey sold. Gokey did out-chart Kris Allen’s self-titled post-Idol (at Number 11 in November) and Allison Iraheta’s Just Like You, which peaked at 35.
via On the Charts: Lady Antebellum Retake Number One From Sade : Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily.
USA Today: Danny Gokey’s ‘My Best Days’ sells 65K in first week
Danny Gokey enters the country album-sales chart at No. 3 and The Billboard 200 at No. 4. having sold more than 65,000 copies of My Best Days in his first week. That’s a few thousand better than Bucky Covington did with his debut a few years back, and I believe (I’m sure RCA will have a press release with the specifics later today) that gives My Best Days the best first-week numbers for any new male country act since Billy Ray Cyrus’ Some Gave All did about 90,000 back in 1992.
That’s a great achievement for Danny, especially after initial projections placed My Best Days in the 45,000-50,000 range, but I’d caution his fans about extrapolating too much about his long-term prospects from this first week. Other country acts who’ve debuted in that range haven’t exactly turned into Entertainer of the Year material: While Bucky (61,000, 2007) and Jason Michael Carroll (58,000, 2007) both started solidly, but have struggled recently. Bucky’s had a hard time getting his last few singles up the chart, and Carroll recently lost his record deal. Both of those acts had sizable hit singles when their first albums hit. Danny got a big boost out of his American Idol appearance, and he won’t get that kind of exposure every week.
Several Idol acts had week-over-week sales increases, according to Nielsen SoundScan, including Carrie Underwood, Daughtry and Adam Lambert.
Read the full article: USA Today: Danny Gokey’s ‘My Best Days’ sells 65K in first week
HITS Daily Double predicts Danny Gokey debut at #4 on Album Sales Chart
HITS Daily Double has the final Album Sales Chart prediction for the week up on their site and a #4 debut is expected for ‘My Best Days’, with 67,278 albums sold! Final numbers on actual sales will be reported tomorrow by Soundscan.
via: http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/sales/salescht.cgi
USA Today: Danny Gokey album ranks third at iTunes for the week
Danny Gokey’s My Best Days was the third best-selling album on iTunes last week, behind the Almost Alice compilation and Lifehouse’s Smoke & Mirrors.
Rounding out the iTunes Top 10: Jason Derülo’s self-titled album, Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now, country singer Easton Corbin’s debut, Lady Gaga’s The Fame, Sade’s Soldier of Love, Sam Adams’ Boston’s Boy and Black Eyed Peas’ The E.N.D.
(FWIW, last week’s three top-selling iTunes albums sold between 14,000 and 16,000 copies, with overall sales of those albums ranging from 54,000 to 127,000.)
Full Nielsen SoundScan figures come out tomorrow.
via: USA Today: Danny Gokey album ranks third at iTunes for the week
USA Today: Where will Danny Gokey’s album debut?
Earlier this week, Hits Daily Double predicted that Danny Gokey’s My Best Days album was tracking to have first-week sales in the range of 45,000 to 50,000. That’s a very respectable debut total for a new male country act — actually, Hits called it “impressive.”
But that estimate came before Danny performed his My Best Days Are Ahead of Me single Thursday on the American Idol results show. In the wake of that performance, My Best Days shot to Number One on iTunes overall album sales chart and No. 2, behind Sade’s Soldier of Love, on Amazon’s Bestsellers list.
Clearly, Danny’s going to blow past 50,000. Some enthusiastic fans are predicting he could hit six figures. What’s a reasonable expectation for My Best Days now?
Read the full article: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2010/03/where-will-danny-gokeys-album-debut/1
Danny Gokey On The Charts
As of now (3/6, 8 am ET), these are Danny’s chart positions. 
There were so many Danny news and goodies this week that we slacked a bit on voting for the music video! Let’s get back to it! Also, keep requesting Danny on the radio!
Album: ‘My Best Days’
iTunes Overall Albums: #1 US, #5 Canada
iTunes Country Albums: #1 US, #1 Canada, #2 UK
Amazon Overall Albums: #2 US
Amazon Country Albums: #1 US
Song: ‘My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me’
iTunes Country songs (from album / from single): #2 / #96 US, #4 / #130 Canada, #14 / #50 UK
iTunes Overall songs: #21 US, #79 Canada
Song: ‘I Still Believe’
iTunes Country songs: #26 US, #131 Canada
iTunes Overall songs: #177 US
Song: ‘I Will Not Say Goodbye’
iTunes Country songs: #50 US, #71 Canada, #161 UK
Song: ‘Get Away’
iTunes Country songs: #199 US, #179 Canada
Music Video: ‘My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me’
iTunes Country Music Videos: #5 US, #5 Canada
CMT Pure 12-Pack Countdown: #1 – VOTE FOR NEXT WEEK!
GAC Top 20 Countdown: #7 – VOTE FOR NEXT WEEK!
HitFix: Chart preview: Can Sade hold off Lady Antebellum for another week?
After a fairly static Top 10 for the past two weeks, look for lots of new names next week when the new album chart bows on Wednesday. First off, five weeks after debuting at No. 1 only to have Sade push them down to No. 2 for the last three weeks, Lady Antebellum likely bounces back up to No. 1 on the Billboard 200, thanks in large part to a Target promotion.
Lady A’s “Need You Now” looks to be the only title to surpass 100,00 in sales. Hits Daily Double predicts sales of around 115,000, while Sade’s “Soldier of Love” slips to No. 2 with sales of 75,000 or so.
Country singer Blake Shelton’s six-song set (a new experiment from Warner Bros.) looks like a lock to come in at No. 3, and is the first of a possible six debuts in the Top 10. “Almost Alice,” the various artist compilation of songs inspired by Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” will debut at No. 4, with “American Idol” runner-up Danny Gokey coming in at No. 5, Lifehouse’s latest at No. 6 and Jason Derulo at No. 7.
After top 10 mainstays Lady GaGa and Black Eyed Peas, country singer Easton Corbin comes in at No. 10. That’s three new country debuts in the top 10, plus a country act at the top of the chart, incase anyone’s looking for a genre that isn’t tanking these days…
via: HitFix: Chart preview: Can Sade hold off Lady Antebellum for another week?
Tennessean.com: Marv Green says ‘Best Days’ destined for ‘American Idol’ alum Danny Gokey
March 5, 2010 by Owlki
Filed under Album, Danny Gokey
Songwriter Marv Green said Danny Gokey’s new single “My Best Days are Ahead of Me” was just destined for the American Idol alum.
Green co-wrote the song with Kent Blazy at Blazy’s house, played it for executives at Sony Music Nashville who immediately took it for Gokey.
“Songs, a lot of times, they know where to go,” Green said. “It didn’t even have a chance to go anywhere else.”
“My Best Days are Ahead of Me” was inspired by a conversation Blazy overheard while walking at Radnor Lake. The songwriter had recently lost his wife and he heard someone say, “I really think my best days are ahead of me.” The idea spoke to his desire to try and move on with his life, and he presented it to Green during their writing appointment. Green said that while the song was motivated by Blazy’s grief, it is a positive anthem to which anyone can relate.
“You can listen to that song and take a lot of things out of it,” said Green, who also co-wrote “Tiny Life” (with Jeffrey Steele) and “Crazy Not To” (with Wendell Mobley and David Lee Murphy) on Gokey’s My Best Days CD. “The song speaks to (Blazy’s loss) but to other things, too. You can stay under the clouds and let it consume you, or you can look forward.”
To read more about Danny Gokey and the story behind “My Best Days are Ahead of Me,” click HERE.
