Carrie Underwood makes country music history with new album Cry Pretty

Singer also scored the biggest first week sales for a female artist in any genre, beating Cardi B's sales for 'Invasion of Privacy'

Carrie Underwood scored the best opening week for album sales by a female artist in 2018 (Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

Carrie Underwood is the first female country artist to score four No.1 albums, after her new record Cry Pretty topped the Billboard 200 in the US.

She achieved No.1's with her albums Blown Away (2012), Play On (2009) and Carnival Ride (2007). She had previously been tied with Faith Hill, Linda Ronstadt and Taylor Swift, with three No.1 albums each. (Swift has five No.1s on the Billboard 200, including pop albums reputation and 1989).

Underwood also scored the best-selling week of 2018 for a female artist in any genre, selling 266,000 total copies in its first week – more than the number achieved by rapper Cardi B earlier this year with her debut Invasion of Privacy.

According to Billboard, Cry Pretty also opened with the best-selling first week for any country release of this year. It marked the best opening week since Luke Bryan's album Kill the Lights debuted with over 320,000 copies in August 2015.

Emimen's surprise album Kamikaze is at No.2 in the US album charts, followed by rapper 6lack, whose second LP East Atlanta Love Letter debuted in the top 10 with 77,000 total copies sold.

Drake's Scorpion is at No.4, followed by Travis Scott's latest record Astroworld. Post Malone's Beerbongs & Bentleys is still in the top 10, at No.6, and Ariana Grande's album Sweetener is at No.7.

Rounding off the top 10 are Paul McCartney and his 17th solo album Egypt Station, at No.8, Nicki Minaj's record Queen at No.9, and Juice World's Goodbye & Good Riddance at No.10.