Good Times Says It All: Alan Jackson's New CD Is Week's Bestseller

Carrie Underwood's "All-American Girl" Remains Top Song

By: Edward Morris

Alan Jackson

As Music Row has been predicting, Alan Jackson's Good Times sold enough copies this past week -- just over 119,000 units -- to top both Billboard's country and all-formats album charts. This is an especially significant achievement for Jackson since he wrote, single-handedly, all 17 songs on the new collection.

For the second week, Carrie Underwood's "All-American Girl" reigns as America's No. 1 country song.

Jackson's surge pushes Taylor Swift's self-titled album back to second place. But that's still a pretty good position for a project that's been out 72 weeks.

Jo Dee Messina's "I'm Done" is the highest-charting new song. It breaks in at No. 56. The other first-time song entries are Clint Black's cover of the 1972 Hollies hit, "Long Cool Woman" (No. 58), Luke Bryan's "Country Man" (No. 59) and Cross Canadian Ragweed's "Cry Lonely" (No. 60).

Had it not been for Jackson's splash, Ashton Shepherd's widely-praised debut album, Sounds So Good, would have been this week's big news. It bounds onto the chart at an enviable No. 16. Also making its bow is Carlene Carter's potent package, Stronger, which comes on at No. 69.

Albums re-entering are Steve Earle's Washington Square Serenade (No. 72), Joe Nichols' Real Things (No. 74) and Jack Ingram's This Is It (No.75).

Trailing in order behind Swift within the Top 5 albums list are Garth Brooks' The Ultimate Hits, Underwood's Carnival Ride and Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' Raising Sand.

The No. 2 through No. 5 songs are Jackson's "Small Town Southern Man," Kenny Chesney and George Strait's "Shiftwork," Rodney Atkins' "Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy)" and Trace Adkins' "You're Gonna Miss This."

It's good to see Jo Dee and Carlene back, isn't it? Those women can rock.