Eric Church Scores First Two Album Week on Sales Chart

Leading the way once again is the third juggernaut album from Taylor Swift.  Speak Now continues to speak to fans enough to keep it at #1 on the charts while “Back To December” seems to be her most-loved single for country radio in quite a while (based on callout research).  Jason Aldean slinks back into the Top 2 with My Kinda Party  as he works his power ballad duet with Kelly Clarkson up the charts.  The album was certified Platinum for sales shipped and it has surpassed the 760,000 copies scanned mark with 3-4 more singles to come from the album.  The Country Strong soundtrack – which features hits “A Little Bit Stronger” and the Gwyneth Paltrow-sung title track – slides down from #2 to #3 best-selling country album on the SoundScan Hot 200 Albums chart this week.  Lady Antebellum’s year-old Need You Now gained a slight 5 percent sales increase to push the album back into the Top 5 country albums sold this week, while the Zac Brown Band’s You Get What You Give rounds it out.

Steel Magnolia leads the second half of the 10 best-selling country albums on the SoundScan Hot 200 charts with their two-week-old self-titled debut album.  Kenny Chesney’s Hemingway’s Whiskey is next with a very slight 1% sales increase this week.  He is also enjoying the #1 hit in America for another week with “Somewhere With You.”  Rascal Flatts is working “I Can’t Let Go” to radio while their Nothing Like This experienced a sales increase this week and has now sold over 580,000 copies.  Sugarland’s The Incredible Machine is #9 this week with a slight sales increase as well.  Rounding out the Top 10 is the cast recording More Music From Country Strong. It has now sold nearly 40,000 in three weeks on the chart. 

Tim McGraw’s Number One Hits starts off the 10-20 section of the best-selling country albums in the USA, according to Nielsen SoundScan.  Right behind him is The Band Perry with their self-titled debut album for Republic Nashville Records.  Eric Church’s Caldwell County EP is this week’s highest charting debut this week as the digital release (which is the second-best selling digital only release of the week behind More Music From Country Strong) features four previously un-released tracks.  Darius Rucker’s Charleston, SC 1966 sits right behind his label mate this week and has now sold nearly 380,000 copies and it’s sure to have at least 2-3 more singles before Darius moves on to album #3 for Capitol Records.  Miranda Lambert’s Revolution sits at #15 this week as she’s firmly working the record towards the 1.2 million sold plateau. 

Blake Shelton’s Loaded The Best Of Blake Shelton is the #16 best-selling country album according to Nielsen SoundScan and it has now sold over 175,000 copies since being released with “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking” doing very well on the charts (and possibly giving birth to “Kiss My Country Ass” as a single).  Eric Church’s Carolina is his second record on the chart this week – as promised and it gained 38% in sales this week (likely due to the EP and corresponding sales).  The record has now sold over 380,000 copies.  Keith Urban’s Get Closer is next and has sold over 508,000 copies as Keith looks primed to have lead single “Put You In A Song” hit #1 next week.  The Zac Brown Band’s The Foundation is #19 this week and has sold nearly 2.5 million copies for the band.  The album features the #1 (or #2) hits “Highway 20 Ride,” “Chicken Fried,” “Toes” and “Whatever It Is.” Alan Jackson’s final album for Sony Music Nashville – as he left the label last week – is the two-disc 34 Number Ones.  The album has sold nearly 200,000 copies and that makes it all but certain to get to the Gold-selling mark sometime in 2010 (due to two discs being on the collection, 250,000 copies sold is all that is needed to score gold as two discs count for each sale, according to the RIAA).

As always featured on this chart rundown, we have the interesting or ‘artists to watch’ section of the chart.  Billy Currington’s Enjoy Yourself gained 7 percent in sales last week while The Grascals grew even more as they made the Top 100 portion of the chart this week with the fantastic The Grascals & Friends: Country Music with a Bluegrass Spin!  Jerrod Niemann slinks up with Judge Jerrod and the Hung Jury gaining nearly 5,000 more copies this week as “What Do You Want” continues to run up the radio single chart.  Easton Corbin’s self-titled debut, the second-best selling album from a newcomer in 2010 after The Band Perry’s self-titled album, has now sold over 314,000 copies.  Jamey Johnson’s fantastic The Guitar Song has found its way to over 256,000 fans which means he’s officially scanned Gold, giving the ‘insider outlaw’ two gold albums in two tries with Mercury Records Nashville. 

Next week new albums from Lori McKenna, Joe Nichols and Wanda Jackson are sure to show-up somewhere on this chart.  Check back here to see who makes it.