Album Sales Strong Thanks To Easter Week

The second half of the Top 10 country albums this week includes Rascal Flatts sitting at 28 overall but leading the charge here with Nothing Like This.  While it remains to be seen if “I Won’t Let Go” will have enough in the tank to become a #1 single, the song is Top 5 and the album will likely drop one more single for this summer before the group moves on to Big Machine Records album release number two this fall/winter.  Sometime in the next week or two, the trio’s album will surpass the 800,000 scanned mark, a number they once nearly scored in the first week of Me And My Gang’s release.  This just goes to show you how the sales market has changed drastically over the years.  Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now  is next on the chart and gained a healthy 30% sales increase over the previous week to bring sales to nearly 3.45 million.  The Band Perry follows Lady Antebellum with their now officially gold-scanning debut The Band Perry.  Their current single “You Lie” is just outside the Top 10 at #11 on this week’s Billboard Hot Country Songs tally. Sara Evans’ Stronger is next with sales pushing her near the 150,000 sales mark as the Gold-selling single “A Little Bit Stronger” sits at #2 on the Billboard single’s chart this week.  The Incredible Machine rounds out the Top 10 this week with another 11,000 plus fans finding the album fit to take home. 

Miranda Lambert’s Revolution leads the 11-15 tally of the SoundScan’s Top 20 country albums this week with nearly 10,500 more copies scanning this week.  Sales are near 1.3 million as “Heart Like Mine” is right behind Sara Evans and Kenny Chesney on the Billboard chart.  Aaron Lewis scored a couple CMT Music Award nominations for “Country Boy” and now has sold over 121,000 copies of his Stroudavarious Records EP, which makes him the top-selling artist on that label (ahead of Darryl Worley).  Chesney’s Hemingway’s Whiskey already has three #1 hits since being released last fall with “Live A Little” hitting #1 the same week the album scores another 8,000 fans.  The next single “You and Tequila” is already gaining strong reviews, despite only being announced as a single just this week.  Some fans even think the album could have 6-8 total singles before all is said and done, which is highly unlikely. Thompson Square just released “I Got You” to the charts and have nearly sold a million copies of breakthrough “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not” yet they’ve also found nearly 150,000 fans who like them well enough to buy their self-titled Stoney Creek Records debut.  The Zac Brown Band’s The Foundation rounds out the Top 15 with another 8,000 or so fans taking home the nearly three year old recording.

The supplemental More Music From Country Strong iTunes Exclusive has now sold over 63,000 copies since being released in January while Blake Shelton’s Loaded…The Best of Blake Shelton has moved over the 237,000 sales mark as the country star sees “Honey Bee” break the Top 30, just as his new show “The Voice” debuted to strong ratings on NBC (the network’s best ratings debut of the year). Tin McGraw is said to be releasing Emotional Traffic sometime this fall/winter but until then fans continue to pick up the two-disc #1 hits collection cleverly titled Number One Hits.  It has now sold 333,000 copies which is good enough to be well on its way to Platinum sales status (two discs count twice, ergo it’s already Gold).  Darius Rucker’s nearly Gold Charleston, SC 1966 is next with the album featuring #1 hits “Come Back Song,” “This” and soon to chart single “I Got Nothin’” picking up nearly 6,800 more fans.  Jerrod Niemann’s Judge Jerrod and the Hung Jury rounds out our Top 10 as “What Do You Want” sits at #4 this week on the singles chart.  Both the single and #1 break-through “Lover, Lover” have secured digital sales in excess of 500,000. That’s good enough for two Gold plaques. 

Our interesting albums section (which can include new, established or indie/alt-country acts) is lead off this week by Billy Currington’s Enjoy Yourself officially scanning past the 300,000 sales mark.  With “Love Done Gone” gaining universal acclaim, the single could help the album slither its way to Gold-selling status sooner rather than later.  Brad Paisley’s Gold-selling two disc Hits Alive has now sold nearly 290,000 copies as the superstar gets set to release This Is Country Music in a couple of weeks.  Carrie Underwood once again re-enters the Hot 200 Albums chart provided by or friends at SoundScan on the heels of a solid 53% sales increase this Easter week with sales now at 1.99 million.  So in two or three weeks the album will officially be a double platinum album.  Craig Campbell has now sold about 5,000 copies a week as his three week old self-titled Bigger Picture debut has sold 15,256 copies.  The lead single “Family Man” looks like a solid bet to score a Top 10 finish before he moves on to “Fish,” the likely next single from the strong debut.  Toby Keith rounds out our rundown this week with Bullets In The Gun re-entering the lower level of the chart with a 30% sales increase this week.  “Somewhere Else” is helping the album sales along with the holiday as the star has now sold over 323,000 copies of the recording. 

Next week we’ll likely see a sales decrease as there’s neither big new releases to be found nor is there a holiday to boost the sales.   Still, we’ll be back to cover the bases.  Will you be joining us?