Carrie Underwood is Crossing Over

Much has been written about how successful Carrie Underwood has become since winning the title of American Idol in May 2004. Her songs have dominated country radio. Her CD has sold over 5 million copies. She's picked up lucrative endorsement deals. She has won Grammys, CMA's, American Music Awards, and more.

Yes, all of this has been said before.

What I would like to discuss is something that has been happening a bit more recently, and, as far as I am concerned, is as noteworthy as the other remarkable things she has accomplished in the past couple of years -- namely, her burgeoning crossover appeal.

Yes, she has had two #1 smashes on the country charts ("Jesus Take the Wheel" and "Before He Cheats") as well as a #2 hit ("Don't Forget to Remember Me"). In addition, her most recent single, "Wasted," is in the Top 3 on that chart. There is no denying she is a bona fide country music star.

But Carrie doesn't seem content to just be a "country artist" -- her songs are now making a huge dent on non-country radio. "Before He Cheats" is skyrocketing up the Hot AC chart and, even more notably, the song about getting revenge on a cheating lover has broken into the Top 20 on the Top 40 pop chart. It is one of the fastest rising songs on both charts.

As of this morning, "Before He Cheats" is the #20 song on the Top 40 pop chart, with a bullet (indicating increased airplay) of 540 spins. The song is currently outperforming new singles from Christina Aguilera, Katharine McPhee, and Beyonce/Shakira. For a country artist, that is incredible.

In addition, "Before..." is the #15 song on the Hot AC chart, with the single largest bullet on that chart.

What makes all of this so noteworthy is that we are a long way from the days when Faith Hill and Shania Twain were topping the pop charts with crossover hits. The country and pop genres are so separate these days that aside from Underwood there is no other country artist in the Top 30 on the pop chart, and The Wreckers are the only other country act on the Hot AC chart.

It is not shocking, in and of itself, that an American Idol winner would have some crossover appeal -- after all, they do perform in front of a very large audience with a variety of musical tastes during their time in the competition. But while Kelly Clarkson, despite her huge radio and sales success, has mainly appealed to the pop/rock crowd (with some country crossover), Fantasia and Ruben has stuck mainly to R&B, and Kellie Pickler, Josh Gracin, and Bucky Covington have seen practically zero non-country airplay, Carrie doesn't seem to be having a problem getting her music played anywhere she wants.

It seems perhaps Simon was on to something when he told Carrie he could see her selling more albums than anyone else in the history of the show. With this kind of crossover appeal, it's hard to imagine that won't be the case.