Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Looks like our Season 10 American Idol finalists might show some staying power on the Billboard charts.

And they’ll soon be dusting off some Christmas classics for an ABC holiday special.

First, the charts:  Three weeks after its release, Scotty McCreery’s “Clear As Day” album is still number three on the Billboard 200 and number one on the country album chart.

Scotty actually moved up a spot on the Billboard 200 this week, leaving only Adele’s “21” and the Casting Crowns’ “Come to the Wall” between him and number one.

Ah, but before he gets any aspirations about returning to the top spot, let’s remember that the new album from the original Idol — Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” — hit the charts next week, followed a week later by the new album from country superstar Miranda Lambert.

The latter is also likely to knock Scotty out of country’s top spot, a position he’s owned for three weeks.

As for Lauren Alaina, the Idol runnerup drops from five to 10 on the Billboard 200, and from two to three on the country album chart. She’s sold about 95,000 copies of “Wildflower,” compared to sales of about 342,000 for “Clear As Day.”

Now, about that TV special:  CMA announced Wednesday that Scotty and Lauren will be featured performers on “CMA Country Christmas” to be aired 8 p.m. Dec. 1.  Other performers include Brad Paisley and Sugarland.

The show will be taped Nov. 10 in Nashville, the day after the CMA Awards.  The awards show will also air at 8 p.m. on ABC.  Season four Idol champ Carrie Underwood will co-host with Brad. Carrie and Kelly are among the award nominees.

Speaking of Kelly, the lead single off her new album is moving up on six different charts. Check out the performance of “Mr. Know it All” below.