Thursday news: Billboard bliss, dazzling in Atlanta and more...

Bucky Covington's debut CD is in stores now, and his music video is available for online viewing at CMT.com and Yahoo Music. You can buy Bucky's album at Amazon, Best Buy , iTunes and Target, hear the full version of his single "A Different World" at CMT and GAC, preview his entire CD at Clear Channel Music, or enjoy samples of songs from the CD at Bucky's official MySpace. An autographed copy of Bucky Covington can be ordered while supplies last at his official site or via his official fan club.

First things first--here's the Billboard chart we've all been waiting for. Looks like Billboard.com is still putting the pages together--Bucky's CD cover is missing as of this hour--but enjoy the Top 200 chart (where Bucky's looking golden at #4) and the Top Country Albums chart (#1, baby!) And the media buzz about Bucky's chart impact continues, as well. He's mentioned in the "Arts, Briefly" column in this morning's New York Times, and the Charlotte Observer adds a fun fact to the news--"Charlotte was the nation's top-selling market" for Bucky's CD, "accounting for 2,500 copies." There's also a quote from Bucky himself, who called his debut "more than I could have ever imagined."

Bucky's also looking great at iTunes, where at last check he had the #5 Country download this morning. (There's a customer-review section at iTunes, as well--if you're one of the many happy owners of Bucky's new album, feel free to share your thoughts with your fellow iTunes users.)

At the just-posted Radio & Records/BDS weekly charts, Bucky's single, "A Different World", moves up to #22 with a bullet. And over at Mediabase, "A Different World" is still battling with the song above it on the Top 500 and weighted charts for that #22 spot--but there should be an interesting shakeup soon, as several songs in the Top 20 have peaked and/or are about to go recurrent. So be sure to request Bucky at your local country station this week--there's never been a better time to call!

(Edited to add another chart link from Marzy in comments--Bucky's single is #9 today on the all-genre Yes.com Top 20, which is based on both airplay and audience voting. Quite a nice leap! )

Bucky's show in Atlanta last night sounds like it was a true celebration; Happydays posted a beautiful recap of her evening with Bucky, Rocky and friends at Moosak, and she's also shared a lovely Photobucket album of the intimate, radio-winners only event. Thanks so much, Happydays! Rodney Ho of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was also on hand; look for his conversation with Bucky on his American Idol Blog soon. And from the sound of things, there might be some audio from the show at Kicks 105.1's website soon, too--we'll definitely keep an ear out for any updates.

Tonight, Bucky's doing a show in beautiful Monterey, California; the concert is sponsored by KTOM, and it's the beginning of a trip out West that will take him to Las Vegas tomorrow. Bucky and Sawyer Brown play at the Boulder Station Casino Friday evening, and if you don't have a seat yet, have we got a deal for you! A kind Bucky fan alerted us last night that due to an unfortunate change of schedule, she's unable to use her second-row-center seats for the show. (Update--the tickets have been spoken for. Thanks!) Good luck, and I hope you'll be the one enjoying the show tomorrow night!

And last but definitely not least, remember to check out Team Covington, where Kathy has some gorgeous photos and screencaps of Bucky's recent performances and CMT segments posted; and drop by the Bucky Truck Stop at Rawkhands for Sunscreen's latest stunning updates.

We'll wrap things up for now with those all-important voting links; give Bucky a hand at GAC's Top Twenty Country Countdown today, and show WKML some love with an email to country@wkml.com requesting "A Different World" for tonight's Top 5 at 6.

More soon!