Just as fortune smiled on American Idol this year with rejuvenated ratings and an overall feelgood vibe, Idol’s latest winner Scotty McCreery has scored himself a #1 album and even broken some records!

Scotty’s Clear As Day album has bucked the downward trend for Idol record sales too – his first week sales have surpassed previous Idol winners such as Jordin Sparks, Kris Allen and last year’s completely undeserved winner, Lee Dewyze.

Entertainment Weekly’s Music Mix blog crunched the numbers on Scotty’s debut as it compares to other Idol winners. The figures below reflect the first week sales for every past winner, along with their total sales. We’ve organised the list by highest first week sales to give you an idea how Scotty’s doing so far:

1. Ruben Studdard (2003), Ruben Studdard – 400,000 (1,791,000)
2. Carrie Underwood (2005), Some Hearts – 315,000 (7,131,000)
3. Taylor Hicks (2006), Taylor Hicks – 298,000 (705,000)
4. Kelly Clarkson (2002), Thankful – 297,000 copies (2,747,000 total)
5. David Cook (2008), David Cook – 280,000 (1,325,000)
6. Fantasia Barrino (2004), Free Yourself – 240,000 (1,821,000)
7. Scotty McCreery (2011), Clear As Day – 197,000
8. Jordin Sparks (2007), Jordin Sparks – 119,000 (1,045,000)
9. Kris Allen (2009), Kris Allen – 80,000 (328,000)
10. Lee DeWyze (2010), Live It Up – 39,000 (168,000)

Now, obviously the total sales tell a different story. Ruben Studdard sold more first week copies than Carrie Underwood, but Carrie went on to outsell Ruben by more than 5 million units. So, while Scotty’s done a respectable job so far, he’s got a long way to go to reach the upper end of that chart!

On the plus side, Scotty’s broken a handful of records already, so what’s to say he won’t shift a few million units? Here are just a few of his accomplishments since appearing on American Idol:

• On the night Scotty won Idol, a record-breaking 122.4 million votes were cast (in total) and the finale attracted 39 million viewers.
• Scotty’s debut single I Love You This Big was the highest-charting debut for a new artist since at least 1984.
• Scotty is officially the youngest solo male artist to ever top the Billboard 200
• He’s also the first country act to have its first album debut in first place

And…he’s only 18 years old. We remember first seeing Scotty in his early Idol auditions and laughing at his ridiculously deep country voice. Who’s laughing now? Not us!

Lee DeWyze dropped: This news actually comes in the same week that Lee DeWyze got dropped by his record label after disappointing record sales. We think his recording career was doomed on two fronts: one, he was never that interesting to deserve the win and two, the album itself received virtually no promotion. As one of the Internet’s premier sources of Reality TV gossip, we didn’t get so much as a press release about Lee’s record. On the other hand, you couldn’t miss Scotty’s (and Lauren Aliana’s) debut efforts.

All eyes on Lauren Alaina: 2011′s runner-up, Lauran Alaina releases her Wildflower album this week. All eyes will be on the teenager to see how well she sells. Both she and Scotty seem to have struck a chord (no pun intended) with the American public, and we’re expecting solid record sales from that lil’ lady too.