Scotty McCreery’s Debut Album Goes Platinum

Some three months after its release, 'Clear As Day,' the debut album from 'American Idol' winner Scotty McCreery, has gone platinum. Scotty's label broke the news last night (Jan. 9), and earlier today, his mother, Judy, tweeted a picture of her superstar son clutching a 1940s vintage guitar given to him by producer Mark Bright.

A hit from the get-go, 'Clear as Day' sold 197,000 copies in its first week, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. Just 18 years old, Scotty became the youngest man ever to top the chart with his debut release.

Chatting with The Boot earlier this year, Scotty talked about how he wanted 'Clear as Day' to bridge contemporary and classic country.

"That was the goal of this album," he said. "I wanted to make sure I had the oldies ... the Conways [Twitty] and the Merles [Haggard] and the guys I grew up listening to, but still have that modern edge."

Given that Scotty was a young artist, there was no shortage of people giving him advice, but he stayed true to himself, picking material based on his gut and even insisting on the inclusion of a Christian song, 'That Old King James.'

"The songs just had to be right," he told us. "There were some songs pitched my way that were trying to get on this album, but I wasn't really feeling them. I just told them, "I don't like it." I had to have a song I could believe in and not fake in the recording studio or on stage. I had to stick to my guns about it."

Platinum certification, of course, signifies 1 million copies sold, and this winter, as Scotty tours with Brad Paisley on the Virtual Reality Tour, it's a safe bet most folks in the audience will know the words to his songs.