30 Mind-Blowing Facts About Kelly Clarkson That Every Fan Should Know

5 June 2019, 4:44 pm EDT By Ruby Karnick

Kelly Clarkson, who first gained world-wide recognition with her victory in the inaugural season of the reality competition television series "American Idol," has till date sold over 37 million albums and 90 million singles. Here are some little known facts about the American singer and songwriter:

Her debut single "A Moment Like This" peaked at number 1 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the country's best-selling single of 2002.
The said song was co-written by Jörgen Elofsson and John Reid, to be the first single for the winner of the first season of "American Idol. Thus the four versions of the song recorded by the four finalists Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini, Nikki McKibbin, and Tamyra Gray.
The single was ranked by Billboard at number 11 in its list of Top 100 American Idol Hits of All Time on March 5, 2013.
This was followed by her debut album "Thankful" released in the year 2003, which debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart.
The lead single "Miss Independent" of her debut studio album "Thankful" gave her first Grammy nomination in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category at the 46th Grammy Awards in the year 2004.
The "Miss Independent" song peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Pop Songs chart, while also attaining a top-ten position in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
The lyrics of the single is about the story of an independent woman who in fears of being rejected, is apprehensive of committing to a relationship, then finally allows herself to break her emotional and communication barriers when she begins to fall in love.
It was reported that at that time in her life, Clarkson found herself similar to the titular "Miss Independent," as she was going through that kind of thing.
While the album "Thankful" was met with generally positive reviews from the critics, Q gave the album a very negative review, stating that the album "has her trilling like Mariah Carey on fluffy R&B tunes."
Her song "Low" from the "Thankful" album was ranked at number 87 in the list of Top 100 American Idol Hits of All Time by Billboard on March 5, 2013.

The fourth and final single of the album "The Trouble with Love Is" was recorded at four different studios: The Hit Factory, New York City; The Record Plant, Los Angeles; The Enterprise, Burbank, California; and The Loft Recording Studio, Bronxville, New York, while its strings were recorded at The Studio, Philadelphia.
The said song, which was received positive reviews, was picked as one of the best tracks on the album by Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic, while Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine called the song a "durable soul number reminiscent of Mariah Carey's 'Vision of Love.'"
It was reported that Whitney Houston invited Clarkson to record the song "Breakaway" to be included for the soundtrack of the 2004 Walt Disney Pictures feature film "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement."
In the initial days of her career, she was continually typecast as a talent show winner, following which music executive Clive Davis met with various producers, primarily Max Martin, encouraging them to produce records for Clarkson in a pop rock direction.
Once in an interview, Clarkson revealed that she had already expected that she will be labeled as an "American Idol" winner, being the first winner, and that it's will be on her grave. She claimed that there is no way getting away from it, and asked then why even try to change?
The third single "Because of You," from her second studio album "Breakaway," was reportedly written by Clarkson when she was 16 years old to cope with the emotional distress caused by her parents' divorce.
She had initially intended the song to be included in her first album "Thankful," but her record label rejected the song. With the help of Hodges and Moody, she polished the song again and added it on "Breakaway."
The said single "Because of You" became Clarkson's biggest success in Europe, topping the European Hot 100 Singles chart.
The song's accompanying music video won in the category for Best Female Video at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards.
She considers "Behind These Hazel Eyes" as one of her favorite songs, which narrates Clarkson's broken relationship with her ex-boyfriend.

"Behind These Hazel Eyes," which peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 10, stayed within the top ten for around fifteen weeks, a record for the longest time spent in the top ten for a song that did not hit top five.
The song was honored with the Most Performed Songs award at the 24th ASCAP Pop Music Awards. It was the fifth most played song of the last decade by American Idol performers on January 2010.
Her song "Since U Been Gone," which is considered by the music critics to be the highlight of "Breakaway," has been ranked at number 482 of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" by Rolling Stone in the year 2010.
The said song, which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, has been named as one of the best pop songs in the last decade by some music critics.
"Since U Been Gone" won the award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 48th Grammy Awards, and two awards - Best Female Video and Best Pop Video at the 2005 MTV Music Awards.
Stephen Thompson of NPR Music called the song "one of the decade's finest pop anthems" which is infused with energy, charisma and full-throated intensity.
The first single "My Life Would Suck Without You" from the fourth album "All I Ever Wanted," rose to the top position in its second week, from its debut position of number 97 at the Billboard Hot 100.
This reportedly broke the record for the biggest jump to number one on a single week previously held by Britney Spears' "Womanizer."
She collaborated with Jason Aldean for a country duet entitled "Don't You Wanna Stay" for his 2010 album "My Kinda Party," which became her first number-one song on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, selling over 2.7 million copies, - making it the best-selling country collaboration in history.
The lead single "Underneath the Tree" from her sixth studio album "Wrapped in Red," became an international top forty Christmas hit song and was radio's most-played new holiday song of the year 2013.