George Strait Scores #1 Album This Week With 'Twang'

For the second week in a row a country music album debuts at the top slot on the albums sales chart as “Twang” is the 13^th George Strait album to top the Hot Country Albums chart compiled by Nielsen SoundScan for Billboard.  The album is the 4^th release to top Nielsen SoundScan’s Hot 200 Albums chart, a chart that is for all genres.  Also, for the first time since Michael Jackson’s untimely passing, an artist has passed MJ on Billboard’s Top Comprehensive Albums chart which mixes the Hot 200 Albums and Top Catalog Albums charts together.  

“Small Town USA” singer/songwriter Justin Moore has reason to celebrate as his self-titled album for The Valory Music Company debuts at 10 on the Hot 200 Albums chart while landing a very respectable 3^rd on the Hot Country Albums chart with Taylor Swift’s Big Machine Records album “Fearless” landing in the 2^nd spot (it’s 9^th on the SoundScan Hot 200 Albums chart).  Rounding out the top 5 selling country albums of the week are Sugarland’s chart-topper from last week, the CD/DVD set “Live On The Inside” and “The Foundation” from the Zac Brown Band.

Note: Click any album title to read the review.

The next five best selling country albums on the Hot Country Albums chart kicks-off with the Hannah Montana Movie soundtrack landing the 6^th (15^th Hot 200) spot while Jason Aldean’s third platinum album “Wide Open” gained sales this week to bring his total albums sold to 515,597 which officially gives the artist his third gold record.  There is little doubt that Aldean will achieve Platinum status with the set as his upcoming live DVD is already certified Gold as well, an achievement rarely heard from any artist before release, let alone a country act.  After a strong 3^rd place start on the Hot 200 Albums chart, Gloriana tumbles 18 places to 21^st (8^th Hot Country Albums) with their self-titled debut for Emblem/Warner Brothers Records.  Darius Rucker continues to move albums with his recently platinum certified album and continues to place inside the Hot Country Albums chart with an 9^th place finish this week while newcomer Jessie James scores the 10^th best Country album of the week with her self-titled debut (which is about as country as the Hannah Montana Soundtrack).  The album also scored a 24^th place finish on the Hot 200 Albums chart.

In the interesting notes part of our chart run-down we find Sugarland continuing to sell quite a few copies of “Love On The Inside.”  This gave the record a 31^st place finish on this week’s Hot 200 Albums chart while Keith Urban’s “Defying Gravity” is doing just that as it moves up the charts to 44^th with another 11,000 copies sold bringing the Aussie country star another Gold record.  The sales are likely due to an affordable $7.99 price at Best Buy stores.  George Strait’s last album, the 72-week-old “Troubadour” gained 40% sales increase due to being on sale the same time people came to the stores to buy “Twang.”  Indie success story Colt Ford, with his brand of talkin’ country music, continues to ride the lower-third of the Hot 200 Albums chart.  He moved nearly another 3000 albums of his debut album “Ride Through The Country.”  He’s now sold over 63,000 copies of it. Toby Keith hasn’t had too much success breaking an act on his label that doesn’t have the name Toby Keith but recently he’s seen some success with trio Trailer Choir breaking-out with their Top 30 hit “Rockin’ The Beer Gut” and for the first time in their career, their EP “Off The Hillbilly Hook” makes an appearance on the Hot 200 Albums chart.  It lands at 188.

Next week we’ll find Reba McEntire returning to the charts with her debut album for her own Starstruck Records.  Released through The Valory Music Company, the album will likely score a high debut but will it gain enough attention of audiences to score country music its third straight #1 spot on the Hot 200 Albums chart?