Country Music Dominates Hot 200 Albums Chart

The hangover from the CMA Awards program last week did have an effect on the charts this week as the Top 25 country albums this week fit into the Top half of the SoundScan Hot 200 Albums chart. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Taylor Swift’s Speak Now isn’t the chart’s #1 album.  That position belongs to Susan Boyle’s sophomore album, the partially holiday themed album The Gift, an album which sold 317,000 copies last week.  Last week’s #2 album remains the #2 country album this week as Jason Aldean’s My Kinda Party sold 80,000 copies to give the artist nearly 275,000 copies sold in just two weeks.  Reba McEntire’s All The Woman I Am sold nearly 65,000 copies in its first week as the lead single “Turn on the Radio” hits the radio chart Top 10.  Sugarland’s The Incredible Machine moved 60,000 copies and will pass the 500,000 sales mark in the next two weeks or so.  Lady Antebellum sees the CMA Awards bump after winning a couple awards during the telecast as Need You Now returned the trio into the Top 5 of country music’s best-selling albums (and 13th overall).

Miranda Lambert’s Revolution scored a post-CMA sales boost as well, jumping 23 slots on the Hot 200 Albums chart and moving up to #6 on Top Country Albums charts.  The already-certified platinum album will soon scan that number (likely during the holiday season).  Kenny Chesney’s Hemingway’s Whiskey has now nearly sold 400,000 copies, which can also be said by CMA Best New Artist Zac Brown Band’s sophomore studio album You Get What You Give.  Brad Paisley’s Hits Alive is next and while one would’ve expected the half-live album to garner a boost due to last week’s CMA Awards show, it really didn’t as the album settled past the 50,000 sales mark in two weeks.  Rounding out country’s Top 10 is Blake Shelton’s decade-spanning Loaded: The Best of Blake Shelton. The album debuted to nearly 23,000 sold, which is pretty good considering each of the tunes on the album are available on previously released albums.  Shelton scored perhaps the most shocking win of the night for his CMA Male Vocalist of the Year win.

The Band Perry leads the 5 albums in the 11-15 section of this week’s chart with their self-titled debut album which features the Top 5 hit “If I Die Young.”  The family trio have sold nearly 150,000 copies since release week a month ago.  Darius Rucker’s Charleston, SC 1966 is next and has passed the 200,000 copies sold mark as “This,” the second single from the album, gets released to radio.  Lady Antebellum’s Merry Little Christmas EP for Target is the 13th best-selling country album this week and now has sold nearly 75,000 copies since being released.  The Loretta Lynn tribute album Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute To Loretta Lynn debuts this week at 14 on the chart, just ahead of the Zac Brown Band’s The Foundation. 

Toby Keith leads off the next section of this week’s SoundScan rundown with Bullets on the Gun.  The album has sold nearly 170,000 while Carrie Underwood’s Play On experienced the post-CMA glow and has now sold nearly 1.8 million copies.  Taylor Swift’s Fearless continues to sell well despite there being a brand-new album out there and has moved nearly 6.1 million copies.   Jamey Johnson’s The Guitar Song is next with nearly 183,000 copies sold whiel Billy Currington has the 20th best-selling country album this week with Enjoy Yourself comfortably past the 130,000 albums-sold mark.

Eric Church’s Carolina slid down the charts but is still the 21st best-selling country album this week and has now sold nearly 310,000 copies while Dierks Bentley certainly earned CMA Award’s afterglow with his album jumping nearly 60 slots on the Hot 200 Albums chart now selling over 172,000 copies.  Jerrod Niemann’s Judge Jerrod and the Hung Jury is next with nearly 5500 more fans taking home the album which now features two Top 40 hits as “What Do You Want” moves up the charts.  Blake Shelton’s All About Tonight gained sales over last week, despite sliding down the Hot 200 Albums chart nearly 15 slots.  The Country Strong original soundtrack album is the 101st best-selling album this week and while it has only sold 15,000 copies so far, it too gained a post CMA Awards sales bump thanks to Gwyneth Paltrow’s performance of the title song from the film.  This gives country music a quarter of America’s best-selling albums of the top half of the SoundScan Hot 200 Albums chart.

Rather than give you an ‘interesting albums’ sales rundown this week, we’ve decided to feature the next five albums on the chart, each of them enjoying post-CMA Awards glow.  Brad Paisley’s last album American Saturday Night bumped up 10 slots on the Hot 200 Albums chart and has now sold nearly 675,000 copies.  Lady Antebellum’s self-titled debut album jumped 12 slots itself as the album is near the 1.78 million mark.  Little Big Town’s The Reason Why held-steady on the charts and has now sold over 121,000 copies since being released.  The year-old Twang from George Strait has now sold nearly 630,000 copies while Easton Corbin rounds out this week’s chart rundown with his self-titled debut (which features two #1 hits in “Roll With It” and “I’m A Little More Country Than That”) now sitting past the 270,000 copies sold mark. 

Next week we’ll see the addition of Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban’s latest albums.  Both are shoo-ins to debut in the country Top 5 and they both may actually have a fighting chance to out-sell Taylor Swift as well.