IDOL LIVE predix: Danny Gokey's 'My Best Days'

The first album from a finalist from Idol's eighth season since Allison Iraheta's Just Like You dropped in December hits stores this Tuesday, when second-runner-up Danny Gokey sees his debut disc My Best Days released nationwide.

Danny's album, courtesy of RCA Nashville, has a few things going for it that will help it stand out from the crowd and most likely fare better than recent releases by alums. First, it's a country album with Christian/Gospel overlap, which is something that hasn't been heard recently. This should help it gain the attention of a wide swath of fans of the genres.

Another factor that will help Danny's album out is the general lack of competition that it will face this week, especially among country releases. Additionally, Danny's single has been making steady progress up the charts at radio, which definitely doesn't hurt an album's prospects of doing well this week.

One problem Danny will have is his ability to get the message out there that his album is available. Appearing on Idol's results show on Thursday is a huge deal and is basically the pinnacle of promotional opportunities for any artist, but it is necessary for Danny to reach past the usual Idol audience in order to open north of 50k in his album's debut week. Sadly, there are no other nationally-televised appearances for him this week, so it will be hard for him to accomplish this goal.

All things considered, Danny should do fairly well with My Best Days for now, with a probable opening week tally of 43k copies in the cards. This would be above Allison's first week album sales but below the numbers of discs by Adam Lambert and Kris Allen.

My Best Days is now available to pre-order at Amazon.com.