Daughtry (album)

Daughtry is the debut album of the American rock band of the same name, the band formed and fronted by American Idol season five finalist Chris Daughtry. The album is the fastest selling debut rock album in Soundscan history.

Background and production

"Breakdown", as it appears on Daughtry, is actually a rewrite and combination of two songs previously, "Breakdown" and "Conviction", performed by Chris Daughtry's former hard rock/alternative metal band Absent Element. These two songs appeared on the album Uprooted.

Promotion and release

The first single released from the album is "It's Not Over", and fellow Idol contestant Ace Young, producer Greg Wattenberg, and Course of Nature frontman Mark Wilkerson are credited as co-writers. On December 6, 2007, the song was nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.

The album was released on November 21, 2006 by RCA Records and 19 Recordings Limited.

Reception

Critical

Critical response to Daughtry was rather positive. However, while many critics felt that the album was generally pleasing and the first real rock album from American Idol alumni, it was still too commercial and unoriginal. While Ken Barnes of USA Today conceded that Chris Daughtry has "strong pipes and palpable angst", overall he found the band "generic", calling them "FuelNickelStaindback". People magazine found the album "a solid if not spectacular effort that at the very least proves that [Chris Daughtry] is not just another Idol also-ran. Christian Hoard (with Rolling Stone) said that "[Chris] Daughtry gets points for not courting soccer moms, but just because he can howl like a motherfucker doesn't mean he's not a cheeseball. In a truly mixed review, Billboard said the album "is music tailor-made for ill-conceived radio formatting, music for consumers whose taste has already been well-established if not preprogrammed," then added, "But [Chris] Daughtry sure does sing his butt off. Allmusic broke from the pack, so to speak, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine calling the album a "a debut that's not only a lot more credible than any American Idol-affiliated rock album should be, but it's a lot easier to digest than most of its [post-grunge] ilk. In a humorous review, comedian Stephen Colbert found Chris Daughtry's success further proof of the impending "cultural Armageddon." He remarked, "It's bad enough this guy sounds like Creed without the Jesus, but Daughtry's success sets a dangerous precedent of rewarding losers...America elected Taylor Hicks as its Idol, and we owe him our loyalty.

On December 6, 2007, the album was nominated for four 50th Annual Grammy Awards: Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song for "It's Not Over", Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for "Home", and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for "It's Not Over".

Commercial

Competing with a flurry of releases during its opening week (Jay-Z, The Beatles, Johnny Cash and others), Daughtry proved to be commercially viable. The album debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200, behind Jay-Z's Kingdom Come. It sold approximately 304,000 copies in its first week,

The album reached number one on the Billboard 200, with 65,000 copies sold, in its ninth week on the chart, for the issue dated February 3, 2007, becoming the first album from an Idol alumnus to top the Billboard 200 since Ruben Studdard's Soulful album in December 2003. In the next week the album fell to number three on the chart, but its sales increased to 80,000. In the following two weeks, the album remained at number three and sold nearly 80,000 copies each week. After this, sales increased to 102,000 copies, but the album dropped to number 9 on the Billboard 200; in the following week, the album climbed to number 2 on the Billboard 200 and sold 84,000 copies. In the next week, its fifteenth on the chart, it climbed back to the number one spot. It was then certified Double Platinum on March 7, 2007. The album was released in the UK on August 20 and debuted at #13.

For the chart week of June 30, 2007 the album was certified 3x Platinum. The album stayed in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart for 27 of the first 28 weeks of its release.

The album deluxe version was released on the chart week of September 9, 2008 and bring a 95% leap to the previous week. As of the album's 87th week on the chart, it has never fallen out of the top hundred. The album has sold 4,243,558 copies in the US to date and has been certified 4 times platinum by RIAA.

Singles

"It's Not Over" lead the album release, and proved to be a success, reaching the top five on multiple charts, including the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 where it peaked at number four.

The next single "Home" joined "It's Not Over" on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number five and making Daughtry the first debut album by an Idol contestant to contain two top five Hot 100 singles. Meanwhile, "What I Want" was released as the second single (the third overall) instead of "Home" to rock stations, and reached the top ten on Mainstream Rock, peaking at #6.

The band's fourth single, "Over You" was released to Top 40 and Hot AC radio on July 24, 2007, peaking in the top twenty of the Hot 100. "Crashed" (the fifth overall single), was released in place of "Over You" on rock stations on September 10, 2007.

The sixth single from the album, "Feels Like Tonight", was released on January 8, 2008. The song became a top forty Hot 100 hit for the band, peaking at #24. The seventh and final single, "What About Now", was released on July 1, 2008. However, the song reached the top twenty of the Hot 100 over two months before it's release, making it the band's fourth top twenty hit off the album on the chart.

Appearance in the media

• "Feels Like Tonight" was featured in the 2006 and 2007 annual WWE Tribute to the Troops. In addition, "There and Back Again" was the theme song for WWE Backlash 2007. These mark the first times World Wrestling Entertainment has used a song from a former American Idol contestant.
• "Home" was used as the closing song for American Idol's sixth season.
• "Crashed" was heard on a 2007 Bionicle commercial.
• "What About Now" was featured on American Idol on Thursday, February 21, 2008
• "Over You" was featured on the Australian soap opera soap Neighbours on Monday, March 3, 2008
• "What I Want" is featured as a playable track in the video game Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS.
• "Feels Like Tonight" was featured in the Charlie Wilson's War TV commericial.

Track listing

1. "It's Not Over" - 3:35 (Chris Daughtry, Greg Wattenberg, Mark Wilkerson, Brett Young)
2. "Used To" - 3:32 (Chris Daughtry, Howard Benson)
3. "Home" - 4:15 (Chris Daughtry)
4. "Over You" - 3:27 (Chris Daughtry, Brian Howes)
5. "Crashed" - 3:31 (Nina Ossoff, Dana Calitri, Kathy Sommer, Chris Daughtry)
6. "Feels Like Tonight" - 4:01 (Martin Sandberg, Lukasz Gottwald, Shep Solomon)
7. "What I Want" (featuring Slash) - 2:48 (Chris Daughtry, Brian Howes)
8. "Breakdown" - 4:01 (Chris Daughtry)
9. "Gone" - 3:21 (Chris Daughtry)
10. "There and Back Again" - 3:15 (Chris Daughtry, Brent Smith)
11. "All These Lives" - 3:24 (Chris Daughtry, Mitch Allan)
12. "What About Now" - 4:10 (Ben Moody, David Hodges)Bonus tracks
13. "Sorry" - 3:41 - iTunes- (Matthias Weber)
14. "Home" (Acoustic) - 4:15 - Wal-Mart
15. "Crashed" (Acoustic) - 3:17 - Wal-Mart
16. "Wanted Dead or Alive" - 4:31 - American Idol.com Download Bonus
17. "Breakdown" (Live) - 4:02 - UK bonus track
18. * Joshua Hartzler not credited in liner notes but is registered under BMI for co-writing "What About Now".U.S. Deluxe Edition
19. Feels Like the First Time (Foreigner cover) - 3:24
20. It's Not Over (Live) - 4:05
21. Home (Acoustic) - 4:13
22. What About Now (Acoustic) - 4:32

Album musicians

• Chris Daughtry - Vocals
• Phil X - Guitar
• Howard Benson - Keyboards
• Paul Bushnell - Bass
• Josh Freese - Drums
• Slash - Featured guitarist on the song "What I Want"
• Chris Chaney - Bass

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
United States	November 21, 2006	RCA	CD
Philippines	January 12, 2007	RCA	CD
Australia	April 7, 2007	EMI	CD
Sweden	June 6, 2007	RCA	CD
Brazil	June 2007	BMI	CD
United Kingdom	August 20, 2007	BMG	CD
United States Deluxe Edition	September 9, 2008	RCA	CD/DVD

Charts

Album

Chart (2006)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard 200	1
U.S. Billboard Top Rock Albums	1
United World Chart	1
UK Album Chart	13
New Zealand Album Charts	16
Finnish Album Charts	35
Australia Album Charts	38
Swedish Album Charts	17
French Album Charts	51
Dutch Albums Top 100	91
Swiss Albums Top 100	35
World Albums Top 40	4

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions
		U.S.	U.S. Pop	U.S. Hot AC	U.S. Main Rock	U.S. Mod Rock
2006	"It's Not Over"	4	3	1	5	17
2007	"Home"	5	7	1	-	-
	"What I Want"1	-	-	-	6	-
	"Over You"*	18	14	3	-	-
	"Crashed"1	-	-	-	24	-
2008	"Feels Like Tonight"*	24	17	1	-	-
	"What About Now"*	18	21	4	-	-

• ^* Still active on the charts.
• ¹ Was only released to rock radio formats, not as a physical or mainstream single.

Notes

References

External links

• Soundfires.com review of 'Home'