C.B.S. rising star Mallory Johnson climbing iTunes country music chart

Forget December 25th, today was Christmas morning for Conception Bay South singer/songwriter Mallory Johnson. Her debut single Tupelocracked iTunes' country music top songs list and it hasn't been for sale a full day yet.

Tupeloas in Tupelo, Mississippi the birthplace of Elvis Presleyis currently sitting in the sixth spot.

'It's surreal'

"The craziest thing for me today was seeing it creep up underneath Chris Stapleton who I adore right now, I'm like his biggest fan," said Johnson. "I'm passing Carrie Underwood and people like that. I mean, it's amazing."

Johnson and her family are funding thealbum entitledPostcard from Tennessee.

The release date hasn't been finalized yet but Johnson is expecting her album to drop sometime after Christmas.

In the meantime, she's reveling in her single's popularity.

"I actually didn't even expect my name or the picture of the single to even pop up on any chart, let alone it going from 27, to 23 to jumping to top 13 and then ten.It's just crazy" said Johnson.

"I could go back to God knows what number tomorrow, but for right now it's definitely surreal to see my name in between Keith Urban."

Country Music Heavyweights

American country music star Sammy Kershaw produced the album. He signed Johnson last year after she won a local singing competition.

A contract wasn't part of the prize pack but contest organizers passed her name along to the Queen of my Double Wide Trailersinger.

Johnson wrote five of the songs on the upcoming album. The other six, including the debut single, were writtenbysongwriting heavyweights.

"We were hoping that would give it the little extra push that it needed" said Johnson.

Gordie Sampson, Hillary Lindsey and Steve McEwan co-wrote the track Tupelo.

Individually, they've written for countrysuperstars like Keith Urban, Taylor Swift and Kenny Chesney.

Johnson says the single they wrote isa fun,lighthearted love song. "We thought people would enjoy jamming along to it in their car. It's super catchy," she said.

Recording Process

The recording was split among Nashville, Alabama and Newfoundland: Band tracks in Nashville, vocals in Alabama and backup vocals here, at a home studio in St. John's. Local singer Chad Murphy provided allthe male vocals on Johnson'sCD.

A music video for Tupelois also local and in the works. For that, Johnson has enlisted her brother, Cecil Johnson, and his production company, Tuckamore Productions. They're aiming to release that in January.

Johnsonformerly fronted her family's group The Cormiers. The Cormiers have won six MusicNL awards since 2005.