American Idol Carrie Underwood's busy year

Carrie Underwood, series 4 winner of American Idol (although not for much longer!), has had a very busy and successful year.

She scored the fastest-selling country debut album for a female artist. The singer's disc Some Hearts has been certified triple platinum (three million sales) after spending 20 weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. According to her record label, it's the fastest certification of its kind in history for a debut album by a female country artist. “Some Hearts” has spent a total of 15 weeks at the top of Billboard's top 40.

In May 2006 Country singer Carrie Underwood graduated from college. Winner of last year's "American Idol," Carrie received her degree during a ceremony at Northeastern State University. Along with 1,800 graduates, Underwood walked across the stage at Jack Dobbins Field House and received a degree from university President Larry Williams. University spokeswoman Nancy Garber said Underwood declined interview requests so the spotlight could be on the other graduates. Carrie, who graduated magna cum laude, received a Bachelor of Arts degree. She majored in mass communications with an emphasis in journalism. The 23-year-old native of Checotah, an eastern Oklahoma town of about 3,800 residents, was a senior at Northeastern State, just three credits short of earning her degree, when she withdrew from school to compete on "American Idol".

In July 2006 Carrie won a GMA for “Jesus takes the wheel”, the video for which won her two Country Music Television video awards in April. The song also won a Dove Award from the Gospel Music Association more recently