Chris Daughtry Releases 'Daughtry' the Album

Everything that made Chris Daughtry insufferable as a contestant on American Idol -- his utter lack of humor, his oppressive earnestness, his desire to sing every song in the same gut-wrenching fashion, a style that only suited the post-grunge brooding that is his chosen specialty -- work for him on his post-Idol debut album, Daughtry.

Daughtry is the debut album of the American rock band of the same name, the band formed and fronted by American Idol season five finalist Chris Daughtry. The album is the fastest selling debut rock album in Soundscan history.

Competing with a flurry of releases during its opening week (Jay-Z, The Beatles, Johnny Cash and others), Daughtry proved to be commercially viable. The album debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200, behind Jay-Z's Kingdom Come. It sold approximately 304,000 copies in its first week,

The album reached number one on the Billboard 200, with 65,000 copies sold, in its ninth week on the chart, for the issue dated February 3, 2007, becoming the first album from an Idol alumnus to top the Billboard 200 since Ruben Studdard's Soulful album in December 2003. In the next week the album fell to number three on the chart, but its sales increased to 80,000. In the following two weeks, the album remained at number three and sold nearly 80,000 copies each week. After this, sales increased to 102,000 copies, but the album dropped to number 9 on the Billboard 200; in the following week, the album climbed to number 2 on the Billboard 200 and sold 84,000 copies. In the next week, its fifteenth on the chart, it climbed back to the number one spot. It was then certified Double Platinum on March 7, 2007. The album was released in the UK on August 20 and debuted at #13.