Carrie Underwood

It looks as if the second album was the charm for former "American Idol" winner Carrie Underwood.

The 24-year-old country singer's latest disc, "Carnival Ride," checked in at No. 1 with 17,000 in sales, knocking Josh Groban's "Noel" (11,000) down to No. 2, according to Nielsen SoundScan data.

The release far surpasses the placement of her debut effort, "Some Hearts," which entered the charts at No. 20 back in November of 2005. The album peaked at No. 11, and is currently residing at No. 45.

Underwood also grabbed the No. 1 spot south of the border, selling 527,000 copies of "Carnival Ride" in the U.S.

Back in Canada, three more debuts hit the Top 5: System of a Down singer Serj Tankian's solo effort "Elect the Dead" (9,000) entered at No. 3, Gregory Charles' "Loin de la Lumiere" at No. 4, and the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss duet disc "Raising Sand" at No. 5.

Paul Potts' "One Chance" and James Blunt's "All the Lost Souls" both slipped four positions to No. 6 and No. 7, respectively, Neil Young's "Chrome Dreams II" came in at No. 8, Sylvain Cossette's "70s" sank from No. 4 to No. 9, and Seether's "Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces" opened at No. 10.

Other notable debuts included Diane Dufresne's "Effusions" at No. 18, Coheed & Cambria's "No World for Tomorrow" at No. 22, and Katie Melua's "Pictures" at No. 31.

In the U.S., Plant & Krauss placed second, followed by Gary Allan's "Living Hard" in third, Serj Tankian in fourth, and Josh Groban in fifth.