This is great, one of our favorite Danny Gokey live performances ever is now available on a Christmas compilation CD from Kohl’s. And Danny is in very nice company for this project

Learn more at kohls.com or stop by your local Kohl’s store

Celebrate the holiday with this Kohl’s Cares “Have Yourself a Merry Little Country Christmas” CD. Country music stars lend their voices to 12 of your favorite Christmas songs. Immerse yourself in the holiday spirit with this “Have Yourself a Merry Little Country Christmas” CD.

• A Holly Jolly Christmas by Alan Jackson
• Hark! The Herald Angels Sing by Martina McBride
• Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Lonestar
• Santa Baby by Kellie Pickler
• The First Noël by Carrie Underwood
• O Little Town Of Bethlehem by Kenny Chesney
• I’ll Be Home For Christmas by Sara Evans
• Frosty The Snowman by Willie Nelson
• O Holy Night by Danny Gokey
• Silent Night by Brad Paisley
• The Christmas Song by Brooks & Dunn
• Joy To The World by Dolly Parton

Danny Gokey’s official site has now posted the cover art for his upcoming single “Second Hand Heart” — be sure to let us know what you think of it!

And you can hear the official version of Second Hand Heart via DannyGokey on Youtube below.

Danny Gokey debuted his eagerly awaited new single Second Hand Heart, aired by country radio station Y96.9 this afternoon in Colorado Springs.

Thanks to American Idol blog mjsbigblog for capturing audio of the single and Danny’s interview segments.

Listen here and be sure to come back and tell us what you think!

The songwriters seem to like it

@stevens_shane: Excited @dannygokey debuted new single Second Hand Heart on radio! Amazing to hear such a great voice singing one of your songs! thanks man!

@stevens_shane: Yay!!! To my cowriters @carybarlowe @joshkear!! Think we got is one with @dannygokey come on Second Hand Heart!! Thank you country radio!!

A few weeks ago we sent out our First Annual Roughstock Fan Poll survey which asked fans to give us their choices for a string of categories.  Hundreds of fans participated in the survey and now we’ve tallied the votes and have found the fans have largely followed the trends of what is ‘most popular’ in retail and with critics – with a few exceptions. For the purpose of this survey, we allowed 4^th quarter 2009 releases like Carrie Underwood’s Play On to be included but didn’t include older albums like 2008’s The Foundation from Zac Brown Band or Fearless from Taylor Swift.

Top 10 Albums:

1. Need You Now – Lady Antebellum

2. My Best Days – Danny Gokey

3. Play On – Carrie Underwood

3. Revolution – Miranda Lambert

5. My Kinda Party – Jason Aldean

5. You Get What You Give – Zac Brown Band

See the complete list at Roughstock.com.

By: Matt Bjorke

2010 was an interesting year for country music in that it announced the arrival of quite a bit of fantastic new talent to help usher in a new decade (’11-’20).  Along with the new talent, we had an explosion of fantastic superstar new releases, particularly during the final quarter of the year which gave country music the ability to have one of its better years.  While it’s true that albums don’t sell nearly as well as they did even five years ago, they still are relevant in an era when the single seems to be returing to a prominence not felt since the 1960s.   In this rundown of our favorite albums of the year we wanted to keep it a lean Top 10 but that was then usurped by a Top 20 and then, well you see what happened here.  We have collected 40 of our favorite albums that we heard in 2010 and while some are expected to be here, you may be surprised to find other albums among this list.  So with that we offer up our Top 40 albums released in 2010. (Note: you can click on any album title to read our review of the album).

40: My Best Days – Danny Gokey (19 Recordings/RCA Nashville)

The debut album from 2009 American Idol third-place contestant showcased the artists fantastic vocals and while song selection was a bit spotty, the album did feature one of our favorite singles of 2010 in “I Will Not Say Goodbye,” the tender ballad “It’s Only” and a couple of strong ‘tempo’ tunes like “Tiny Life” and the title track.

Read the full article: http://www.roughstock.com/blog/the-year-that-was-the-top-40-country-albums-of-2010

When it came to sales debuts, this year’s American Idol winner and runner-up couldn’t beat the third-place finisher from 2009. And the winner of the show’s third season made the biggest Idol splash of the year, sales-wise.

[...] Season 8′s Danny Gokey had the biggest opening week of any debut Idol act, his 65,000 copies of My Best Days easily surpassing releases from Lee DeWyze (39,000) and Crystal Bowersox (58,000). Danny has sold nearly 200,000 copies of the album, which came out in January. [sic]

[iheartdannygokey.com note: My Best Days officially came out on March 2, 2010.]

Read the full article: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2010/12/fantasia-danny-gokey-have-2010s-top-idol-debuts/1

December is a time for award nominations and year-end lists. Billboard.com has compiled their 2010 year-end charts. An impressive 10 Idol alums made the list this year, and most of them appeared on multiple charts. They are: Carrie Underwood, Adam Lambert, Daughtry, Kris Allen, Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia, Danny Gokey,Kellie Pickler, Blake Lewis, andChris Sligh.

[...]

Hot Country Albums
#4 - Play On, Carrie Underwood
#35 - My Best Days, Danny Gokey
#60 - Kellie Pickler, Kellie Pickler

Hot Country Album Artist
#4 – Carrie Underwood
#31 – Danny Gokey
#43 – Kellie Pickler

via: http://www.americanidol.com/news/view/pid/4062/

Danny Gokey Is Getting in the Holiday Spirit with the Release of “Tennessee Christmas”

Nashville, TN – 19 Recordings/RCA Nashville recording artist Danny Gokey hails from Wisconsin, but living in Tennessee now may have given him a little extra incentive to record “Tennessee Christmas,” the holiday favorite first made famous by its co-writer, Amy Grant. Serviced to country radio last week and available to fans now as a digital single, the song is one that Danny was delighted to sing as the first holiday music he’s ever released.

“I love Amy Grant’s version of ‘Tennessee Christmas,’” Gokey says. By recording the song, Danny offers, “I wanted to add my own soulful country touch to this wonderful classic.”

The song is available for download at your favorite online music retailer, as well as on Danny’s site at www.dannygokey.com.

After co-hosting this past weekend’s online red carpet broadcast for the American Music Awards, Gokey is also a nominee for another award show – the American Country Awards – where he’s nominated in the category of Artist of the Year: Breakthrough Artist. TheAmerican Country Awards will air December 6 on FOX.

Video credits: our Steph

Video credits: dear Toni

Check out the studio version HERE (via MJsbigblog) and don’t forget to buy this gorgeous rendition on iTunes or Amazon on November 22nd!!!

A preview of Danny Gokey’s new Christmas single “Tennessee Christmas” is now available for listening at amazon.com.

Listen here!

Credit the CMA Music Festival: All the country Idols saw week-to-week sales increases last week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and they were the only Idols in the Billboard Top 200 to do so.

Carrie Underwood‘s Play On leads the pack with 16,000 sales (a 5% increase). Danny Gokey‘s My Best Days (+6%), Carrie’s Carnival Ride (+12%), and Kellie Pickler‘s self-titled album (+8%) all saw weekly bumps, too.

[...]

Danny Gokey, My Best Days (3,000, +6%, 163,000)

via: USA Today: Country Idols see sales spike following CMA Music Festival

Reviews & Opinions:

[..] Country music fits Danny’s voice quite well, and his voice is absolutely incredible. Every song is good; there are no duds in this set. The songs are mostly about making a difference, being happy and affirmative, and finding joy in life, and as such, they seem to flow directly from Danny’s heart, even though he did not write them. Danny could and should have a long and successful career in country music, yet his appeal definitely goes beyond that genre. This is just GOOD MUSIC. Way to go, Danny. - Carter

You can find the full entry here.

Danny Gokey, My Best Days (4,000, -27 percent, 152,000) (#139 BB T200)

via: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2010/05/carrie-underwood-we-are-the-fallen-top-idol-best-sellers/1

14 12 Danny Gokey, My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me (1979) (#25 Country)

via: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2010/05/idols-rising/1

Danny Gokey, My Best Days Are Ahead of Me (4,000, +9 percent, 103,000)

via: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2010/05/falling-slowly-september-win-big-on-american-idol-movie-week/1

NEW! exposes new artists to radio audiences and is featured on 350+ participating Clear Channel radio station websites as well as iheartradio.com.

When we posted about it last week, “My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me” was #16 on the Country/Signed list.

Today, the list is exactly the way we like it. “My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me” at #1, “I Will Not Say Goodbye” at #2 and “Life On Ya” at #3.

Keep requesting “My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me” to your radio station!

Last week’s Frank Sinatra night on American Idol did wonders for the sales of The Chairman of the Board and mentor Harry Connick Jr. According to Nielsen SoundScan, week-to-week sales of Connick’s Your Songs album increased by more than 500 percent, while two Sinatra compilations jumped into The Billboard 200 chart.

Several Idols also had better weeks, with Carrie Underwood, Adam Lambert, Daughtry, Danny Gokey and Mandisa among those seeing double-digit percentage increases over the previous week.

[...]
Danny Gokey, My Best Days (5,000, +31 percent, 148,000)

via: USA Today: ‘Idol’ boosts Connick, Sinatra sales

12 13 Danny Gokey, My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me (2156) (#22 Country)

via: USA Today: Idols absent from this week’s Top 40 chart

Danny Gokey, My Best Days Are Ahead of Me (3,000, +3 percent, 100,000)

via: USA Today: Adam Lambert tops Idol track sales; Carrie Underwood’s new single makes a big jump