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I was a little surprised to see this when I checked out the music charts Thursday morning.

Without the benefit of a smash country single, Scotty McCreery’s “Clear As Day” album is outperforming Kelly Clarkson’s more recently released “Stronger” on the Billboard 200.

Scotty dropped from 12 to 14 on the Billboard 200 this week, his album’s sixth on the charts.  “Clear As Day” remains entrenched at number two on the country album chart behind Miranda Lambert’s fabulous “Four the Record.”

And, as I said, Scotty’s album is performing that well despite the fact that his second single, “The Trouble with Girls,” never really caught on.

Kelly’s  “Stronger,” meanwhile, checks in at number 19 on the Billboard 200, down from 10 a week ago.  No shame is that.  This is the most competitive time of the year for new releases with everyone trying to cash in on the holiday sales binge.

Lead single “Mr. Know it All” drops to 19 on the Hot 100, which means it’s unlikely to match the success of the lead single (“My Life Would Suck Without You”) off Kelly’s last album.

But it’s also in the top 20 on four other charts, including among adult pop songs, where it moved from number five to number three this week.

Also worth noting, Josh Gracin’s long-awaited third album, “Redemption,” debuted at number 39 on the country albums chart.

This week on the charts

Last week …