Then why did you bring up his genre?
His music doesn't fit into the current music climate, but I think a more accurate statement would be to say that there isn't really a format for his type of music. UAC and Country aren't popular, but at least they have radio formats to back them up.
No one said Carrie was a total 0 in talent. She can sing, but so can Taylor. And what do Carrie's sales have to do with this? "Talented" people can have flop records, and "untalented" people can have huge hits.