David Archuleta is the debut album by American singer David Archuleta.[1] It was released first released in the Asia on November 10, 2008, by Jive Records. The album was certified gold by the RIAA (denoting shipments of 500,000 copies) on January 29, 2009.[2] The first single, "Crush", was released to radio on August 1. The album was released in the UK on May 11, 2009. The UK album release was set to coincide with his UK tour with Rock/Pop band McFly in April/May 2009.
Singles
The first single, "Crush", was released to radio on August 1, 2008, and was commercially released on August 12, 2008. Its first week it debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 with 166,000 units sold.[3][4] The single has sold almost 2 million copies in the United States.[5]
Archuleta confirmed on his official MySpace blog on November 21, 2008, that "A Little Too Not Over You", a song which he co-wrote, was the next single following "Crush". It was released to radio on January 6, 2009.[6]
On March 13, 2009, Archuleta released a couple of songs from David Archuleta on iTunes that were previously not available as single downloads. "Works for Me" came as a bonus track on the Walmart version of David Archuleta, and "Somebody Out There" was exclusive to those who pre-ordered the album on iTunes. Both songs were also included in a four-track EP titled Four for the Fans, released in 2010 exclusively on iTunes, before the release of Archuleta's single, "Something 'Bout Love", from his third studio album, The Other Side of Down (2010).
David Archuleta received mixed reviews from critics.[14]Billboard praised David Archuleta, calling it "charming" and filled with performances "meant for arenas". It also credited Archuleta as having a "once-in-a-decade pop voice: A silky tenor with a natural melancholy."[15] Ken Barnes of USA Today gave the album a positive review saying, "On American Idol runner-up David Archuleta's first, self-titled album, the 17-year-old singer delivers a non-stop succession of polite pop songs swathed in gauzy cotton-candy textures and catchy choruses. And that's exactly what he should be doing." The New York Times writes "(Archuleta) has a lovely, foggy R&B voice out of scale with his small body". Writes the review, "The music, made by many producers and songwriters, averages out different forms of radio-format blandness, with tinges of Coldplay and Shania Twain, and a few dollops of good writing."[16]Los Angeles Times wrote "The record is larded with awkward modernist R&B, Christian semaphore ballads like 'You Can' and warm-milk mewling that makes David Cook, Archuleta's "Idol" foe, sound like Robert Plant".[11]
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart (issue of November 29, 2008), with sales of 183,000 copies in the United States, behind Fearless by Taylor Swift.[17] As of January 2011, the album has sold 764,000 copies in the United States.[18]
