Carrie Underwood - Carrie Underwood Blows Away Rivals To Land Billboard No.1

In fact, 'Blown Away' represents the best sales week for a country record since October 1, 2012, when Lady Antebellum's 'Own the Night' topped the chart with 347,000 copies. It's also the second biggest arrival of any album in 2012, with only Madonna's 'Mdna' selling more (though that suffered a monumental decline in sales during its second week). Elsewhere on this week's Billboard 200 chart, Norah Jones sold 110,000 copies of Little Broken Hearts to land second place, with the latest 'Now' compilation taking No.3 with 95,000. Adele's all-conquering sophomore effort '21' has momentarily slipped out of the top three, and settles for fourth place with sales of 77,000.

Blown Away also marks the third chart-topper for Underwood, following 2007's Carnival Ride (527,000), and 2009's Play On (318,000). She is only the third woman to take three country albums to No.1 on the Billboard 200.