ACM 'Artist of the Decade' George Strait Climbs Album Sales Charts

After last week's influx of new releases on the Neilsen SoundScan Hot 200 Charts, this week's chart returns largely to normalcy as Eminem and his "Relapse" album continue to top the charts and are followed closely by Green Day's latest.  "The Hannah Montana Soundtrack," which features many country artists, is the first album released in 2009 to pass the million albums sold mark (Eminem is likely to be the 2nd), a feat it did this week as Miley Cyrus' soundtrack song continues to score pop success while crossing into the Top 30 at Country radio. After a week outside of the Top 10 of the SoundScan Hot 200 chart, both Taylor Swift's "Fearless" and Rascal Flatts' "Unstoppable" return to give country music artists 4 of the Top 10 albums.  They actually have five of the Top 11 albums as Montgomery Gentry debuts with their Cracker Barrel-exclusive "For Our Heroes," which sold a solid 25,933 albums last week at the restaurant and country store.

With "Whatever It Is" giving the Zac Brown Band their 2nd Top 10 hit from "The Foundation," the band's nantional debut leads the second half of the Top 10 Country Albums on the Neilsen SoundScan Hot 200 charts.  Thanks to the goodwill of American Idol, Keith Urban continues to see a sales increase for his early-spring release "Defying Gravity" as the album jumps into the Top 10 while Jason Aldean's "Wide Open" continues its rise to Gold and possibly Platinum status as he releases his next single "Big Green Tractor" (read review here).  Sugarland recently scored their third #1 single from "Love On The Inside" with "It Happens" and the duo is ready to follow it up with "Joey" (listen here) while George Strait moved from the lower rungs of the chart last week to place his 2008 release "Troubadour" inside the Top 10, thanks largely to his performance of the hit title track on the ACM Artist of the Decade telecast last week. 

Lady Antebellum kicks off the interesting albums section of our chart rundown with their self-titled Gold-selling debut.  With three Top 10 singles, the third "I Run To You" (read review here) has an outside chance of being the trio's first #1 hit. Lady A's label-mate Darius Rucker is next as his "Learn To Live" album continues to move towards Platinum status as Darius works the follow-up to two #1 singles, "Alright" (listen here) to radio. Jamey Johnson's "That Lonesome Song" jumped quite a few notches on the charts, largely thanks to his appearance on George Strait's televison program last week.  The Gold-selling set features the hits "In Color" (listen here), "High Cost of Living" (read review here), and "Mowin' Down The Roses" (watch video here).  Billy Currington returns his album to the Top 100 of the SoundScan Hot 200 charts with the success of his "People Are Crazy" (read review here) single.  "Little Bit of Everything" also features the #1 hit "Don't" (listen here).