C arrie Underwood claims her 12th No. 1 on Country Songs, as “Good Girl” gains 2.6 million audience impressions and flies 4-1. It’s her 12th trip to the summit since she first occupied the top box with “Jesus, Take the Wheel” more than six years ago.
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Since then Underwood has stacked twice as many No. 1s as the next-closest woman, Taylor Swift, who has six. The only other solo women with more than one leader since Underwood’s first are Miranda Lambert’s three and Reba McEntire’s two.
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Underwood had most recently topped the radio list as by herself when “Undo It” crowned the Aug. 7, 2010, chart She had last reigned with Brad Paisley with “Remind Me” last September. In between, she narrowly missed No. 1 with “Mama’s Song,” which stopped at No. 2 in January 2011. She scored three consecutive leaders four years ago, “All-American Girl” (March 2008), “Last Name” (June 2008) and “Just a Dream” (November 2008), and strung together a second set of three with “Cowboy Casanova” (November 2009), “Temporary Home” (April 2010) and “Undo It.”
The Oklahoma native’s longest run atop the chart was six weeks with “Wheel” in the early weeks of 2006, followed closely by five straight weeks with “Before He Cheats” in November/December that year. With 3.5 million downloads sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan, “Cheats” is the artist’s best-selling digital title to date.
Also noteworthy on Country Songs is the 42nd top 10 for Toby Keith, who shifts 11-10 with “Beers Ago.” He most recently topped the chart with “Made in America,” which became his 20th No. 1 on the Oct. 15, 2011, list. He followed that with the buzz-worthy “Red Solo Cup,” which peaked at No. 9 on the radio-based Country Songs chart, but spent a whopping 14 weeks at No. 1 on Country Digital Songs. The song bullets at No. 25 in its 32nd week on the latter list (19,000 sold), and anticipates a second platinum certification; it’s sold 1.9 million downloads, according to SoundScan.
Expect significant retail gains on next week’s charts for Keith’s titles following the June 6 CMT Music Awards, which he co-hosted. Get a full recap of the awards here .
Country Digital Songs is led for a second week by Luke Bryan’s “Drunk on You” (101,000, up 24%). The Country Albums chart, meanwhile, continues to be dominated by Underwood’s “Blown Away,” which logs a fifth week on top with 32,000 sold (down 30%). It’s sold 517,000 and led Country Albums in its first five weeks of release.
Johnny Cash makes another posthumous debut on Country Albums list with “Opus Collection,” a hits compilation to commemorate the legend’s 80th birthday on Feb. 26. The Starbucks exclusive snares the Hot Shot Debut at No. 6 with 11,000 sold.
Additional reporting by Gary Trust in New York