Music News

Clay Aiken debuts at No. 4 on Billboard

By M&C News May 14, 2008, 15:56 GMT

Clay Aiken’s RCA/19 Recordings album, ‘On My Way Here’ debuts this week at #4 with 94,071 units sold this week. Released on May 6th, ‘On My Way Here’ is Aiken’s fourth album, fourth Top 5 debut, and his first album of original songs since his 2003 chart topping, double platinum debut Measure of a Man.

The title track and first single from the album “On My Way Here” debuted at #1 on the AOL streaming chart the week of release, rocketed to #1 on the Amazon chart the week it was made available as a pre-release, and debuted at #1 on the Amazon download chart on release day.

Aiken debuted songs from his new album on a special “QVC Presents QSessions Live” event on Monday, April 28. Wal-Mart also released an exclusive, limited edition version of the album, which featured a different album cover and a bonus track “Forget I Ever Knew You.”

Aiken made television appearances on Good Morning America, The View, The Today Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, Insider, Extra!, E!, CNN, ABC Nightline, Fox News, and CBS News Path,  all the week of release. Additionally, he appeared on AOL Sessions the week of release, and is scheduled to appear on Rachael Ray and Jimmy Kimmel Live on May 16th, and the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on May 19th.

‘On My Way Here’ chronicles Aiken’s experiences over the past five years, ascending from the runner up on American Idol to pop superstar. The album’s theme came to Aiken when he and his executive producer Jaymes Foster fell in love with a song co-written by Ryan Tedder called “On My Way Here.”

The message of the lyrics — how the lessons we learn while growing up shape us into who we become as adults — struck a very deep chord with the artist.