Carrie Underwood’s ‘Cry Pretty’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart

Carrie Underwood’s latest album Cry Pretty has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The achievement makes Underwood the only female artist to have four records at the top of the all-genre chart.

“This album is so special to me for so many reasons and I couldn’t be more proud that people have embraced it the way they have,” Underwood gushed to Billboard. “I feel so blessed to be able to do what I do, and I am incredibly grateful for the support of fans around the world that make it all possible.”

The news comes while “Love Wins,” the singer’s second single from Cry Pretty, is rapidly climbing the charts. The tune, written by Underwood along with David Garcia and Brett James, has an important message Underwood wants to share with her fans.

“When we were writing it, it was a little scary, because I was like, ‘Whatever we say, I just want to make sure people see this for what it is and what we’re trying to say,’” Underwood told PopCulture.com and other media. “It’s so easy, I feel like these days, to skim the surface of something, draw some crazy conclusions that’s not correct, and then make a thing out of it. And I was like, ‘Above all, we want people to feel hopeful.’

“We weren’t trying to speak negatively about our world,” she added. “Because we live in an amazing world too. But, I feel like we just get really caught up in surface things, and I feel like in this world we’re quick to get angry at each other.”

Underwood previously admitted that Cry Pretty, which marked her debut as a producer, was a challenge when it came time to put the songs in order.

“I was like, ‘If we put the wrong songs next to each other, things are gonna get lost. And it’s not gonna make any sense,’” Underwood said. “It was hard. So this is what we came up with that we could all agree on, which worked the best way. It just all came down to what songs sounded right next to each other. And we do go low with ‘The Bullet’ and ‘Spinning Bottles.’ And then we had to have something that was a little more soulfully uplifting .. Everything else was like this crazy, really hard puzzle.”

It’s been a busy week for Underwood. The Oklahoma native recently earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and also performed at the iHeartRadio festival.

Underwood is nominated for two upcoming CMA Awards, both for Female Vocalist of the Year and Music Video of the Year for “Cry Pretty.” The 2018 CMA Awards will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 8:00 PM ET on ABC.

Photo Credit: Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Spotify