Billboard 2011 Top Albums & Music Sales Statistics

Billboard 2011 Top Albums and Music Sales Statistics

Thanks to Gaga, Adele, music business finally improves in 2011

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Among musicians, "flat" is a word you don't want to hear. But to the industry, flat is truly music to everyone's ears.

Soundscan's sales year doesn't end until January 1, but current year-to-year comparisons have album sales for 2011 ahead of comparable 2010 business.

Year-to-date sales through Dec. 25, 2011: 322.86 million (Weekly sales: 15.08 million)
Year-to-date sales through Dec. 26, 2010: 319.01 million (Weekly sales: 15.08 million)

OK, it's only by a whisker of 1 percent. But it is welcome news in an industry where album sales for 2010 were down 13 percent from 2009. And prior to that they'd been down an average of 8 percent every year through the 2000s, suggesting an incredible shrinking music business.

This year reversed the trend, but there is a cloud buried in the silver lining: the success stories of 2011 will not be easy to replicate.

The year's two biggest albums were Adele's "21" and Michael Buble's "Christmas" -- and even the most copycat-prone execs aren't foolish enough to start looking for pleasingly plump Englishwomen or Sinatra-bred carolers to sign.

Regardless of how applicable the lessons might be, here's our look back at what worked and what didn't in 2011:

NEW COUNTRY VS. OLD(ER) COUNTRY:

It used to be that country was the genre most hospitable to mid-career artists. Tell that to Martina McBride, who's sold a mere 119,000 in 10 weeks. Toby Keith is down to No. 28 after just eight weeks, with an OK 266,000 tally, the kind of number he used to do in just his opening week.

So who's barnstorming down the dirt road? Country's new guard of guys. Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party," a late 2010 release, has racked up a 2.2 million total, and it moved back up to No. 16 in the week prior to Christmas. No other album that's been out more than a year has anywhere near that ongoing momentum.

For second-tier success stories, check out Eric Church at 504,000 units, Luke Bryan at 580,000 with his latest, the Zac Brown Band adding 720,000 to their 2010 album's total -- and Scotty McCreery, putting an end to the recent "Idol" curse with 748,000 and counting.

One female-fronted group broke through the wall of dudes: the Band Perry added 666,000 to the 998,000 total for their debut album, which will be well over a million by year's end -- capitalizing on their 3.5 million-selling single, "If I Die Young," the funeral song of the millennium.

Top 200 Albums of 2011 

Billboard.com has compiled their list of the Top 200 Albums of 2011. Adele’s 21 released Feb 22, 2011 was named the No. 1 album of the year. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), "21" has sold over five million units in the United States alone and it  was the "Billboard 200 Album of the Year," since it surpassed the sales of Taylor Swift's Speak Now and Lady Gaga's Born This Way, leaving them in second and third place respectively.

Regarding country music artists Taylor Swift’s SPEAK NOW album came in at # 2.

Jason Aldean and MY KINDA PARTY was at # 4.

Rascal Flatts with NOTHING LIKE THIS album took the # 17 position and Lady Antebellum’s Grammy Winning Album NEED YOU NOW came in at No. 19. Other country albums to appear in its Top 50 were:

Zac Brown Band’s YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE ( #23), Lady Antebellum’s OWN THE NIGHT ( #25), The Band Perry’s self-titled debut (#30), Sugarland with THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE ( #33), Keith Urban’s GET CLOSER (# 36), Kenny Chesney’s album HEMINGWAY’S WHISKEY (#42) and Brad Paisley’s THIS IS COUNTRY MUSIC made the list at # 46

Top 50 Bluegrass Albums of 2011

Billboard.com has released their list of the Top 50 Bluegrass Albums of 2011. Albums were ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. Alison Krauss & Union Station have the Top Bluegrass Album of the year with PAPER AIRPLANE.

1.       Paper Airplane – Alison Krauss & Union Station

2.      Rare Bird Alert – Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers

3.      Up On The Ridge – Dierks Bentley

4.      The Goat Rodeo Sessions – Yo-Yo Ma/Stuart Duncan/Edgar Meyer/Chris Thile

5.      Follow Me Down – Sarah Jarosz

6.      The Grascals and Friends: Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin – The Grascals

7.      Palomino – Trampled By Turtles

8.      Bright Morning Stars – The Wailin’ Jennys

9.      Genuine Negro Jigs – Carolina Chocolate Drops

10.  Best of Bluegrass – Steve Ivey

11.   Antifogmatic – Punch Brothers

12.   City of Refuge – Abigail Washburn

13.   Christmas – The Isaacs

14.   Sleep With One Eye Open – Chris Thile & Michael Daves

15.   Reckless – The SteelDrivers

16.   Daybreak – Sierra Hull

17.  Dailey & Vincent Sing The Statler Brothers – Dailey & Vincent

18.   The Isaacs Naturally: An Almost A Cappella Collection – The Isaacs

19.   Taken – Rhonda Vincent

20.  Country Hits Bluegrass Style – Ricky Skaggs

Country Album Billboard Top 200 Chart News December 21, 2011

Country Album Billboard Top 200 Chart News December  21, 2011

Lady Antebellum Cover Art

For the last five or six weeks, the Billboard Top Country Albums chart has seen Scotty McCreery and Lady Antebellum alternating the #1 slot on the chart week by week. With Scotty’s holding down #1 last week’s chart, that means that Lady Antebellum’s OWN THE NIGHT has again made the #1 slot this week.  The album which was the Billboard's  #5 best-seller sold an impressive 81,000 copies to bring Lady A's sales haul to to over 1 million copies while Scotty with 67,000 sold nears 3/4 of a million copies scanned. 

Jason Aldean stays at #3 on the charts this week with MY KINDA PARTY shifting 52,000 copies, which was a 51% gain than last week (Dec 14).  Country albums on the chart this week had at least 11% sales gains. 

 Taylor Swift’s SPEAK NOW, WORLD TOUR LIVE DVD/CD set is almost gold with over 190,000 copies of the set scanned so far with 46,000 coming this past week. Toby Keith rounds out the Top 5 this week with CLANCY'S TAVERN selling another 39,000 copies thanks in large part to the success of “Red Solo Cup.”

With another 37,000 copies scanned, Taylor Swift’s SPEAK NOW has now moved 3.86 million copies while Luke Bryan’s TAILGATES & TANLINES  continues to sell well. He has  sold over 580,000 copies while The Band Perry are just a mere 2,000 copies away from the magic 1 million scanned tally with their self-titled debut album.

Miranda Lambert scanned past the 300,000 marker the same week her Pistol Annies HELL ON HEELS project moved past the 200,000 mark.

Eric Church’s CHIEF went past the 500,000 number this week as the album sold another 20,000 copies as “Drink In My Hand” continues to be the best-charting single of Eric’s career.

Blake Shelton’s Red River Blue is nearing Gold sitting at 474,000 sales this week. 

Brad Paisley scored a 54% sales increase this week to have his nearly 600,000 copies sold album of THIS IS COUNTRY MUSIC rising 15 places on the Top 200 Albums chart. 

George Strait’s HERE FOR A GOOD TIME continues to find fans will 300,000 copies of the record being taken home as his new single “Love’s Gonna Make It All Right” rises up the charts.

Lauren Alaina’s WILDFLOWER rounds out the sales this week with nearly 200,000 copies getting into the "Idol hands" of fans. The album has so far produced two Top 40 hits in “Like My Mother Does” and current single, the Mallary Hope-penned “Georgia Peaches.” Lauren will be hitting the road with fellow Georgi native Jason Aldean in 2012.

Kenny Chesney’s Hemingway’s Whiskey has now scanned over 1 million copies.

Martina McBride’s ELEVEN has sold over 119,000 copies which for her is disappointing.

Ronnie Dunn’s self-titled debut has sold to date 174,000 copies.

Next week’s chart will reflect the final Christmas shopping season push. Will Lady A hold onto the #1 spot to end the year on a high or will Scotty McCreery switch places with them again?

LW   TW   Artist                   Album

15    5      Lady Antebellum  Own The Night  -- #5 Billboard & #1 Country Album selling 81K

13    9      Scotty McCreery  Clear As Day -- #9 Billboard & #2 Country Album selling 67K

24    16    Jason Aldean       My Kinda Party -- #3 Country Album selling 52K

27    20    Taylor Swift         Speak Now: World Tour -- #4 Country Album selling 46K

29    25    Toby Keith           Clancy's Tavern -- #5 Country Album selling 39K

33    27    Taylor Swift         Speak Now  -- #6 Country Album selling 37K

35    17    Luke Bryan          Tailgates & Tanlines -- #7 Country Album selling 37K

24    30    The Band Perry    The Band Perry -- #8 Country Album selling 37K (998K total)

40    35    Miranda Lambert  Four The Record  -- #9 Country Album selling 31K (312K Total)

60    54    Zac Brown Band   You Get What You Give -- #10 Country Album selling 20K

63    56    Eric  Church         Chief  -- #56 Billboard Album selling 20K (504K Total)

62    60    Blake Shelton      Red River Blue

87    72    Brad Paisley        This Is Country Music -- #72 Billboard  selling 15K (586K total, 54% gain)

86    81    George Strait       Here For A Good Time -- #81 Billboard  selling 13K (298K total)

79    82    Lauren Alaina       Wildflower -- #82 Billboard  selling 13K (196K total)

Billie Jo Spears dies at 73

Country singer Billie Jo Spears dies at 73

The Associated Press reports (Dec. 14, 2011, 11 p.m. EST) singer Billie Jo Spears, whose performance of "Blanket on the Ground" went No. 1 on the country charts in 1975, has died at age 73.

A funeral home spokesman confirmed her death Wednesday evening. Carl Willis of R.S. Farmer Funeral Home in Silsbee had no details.

The Orange Leader newspaper in Texas reported that she died Wednesday morning at her home in Vidor (VYE'dur), 85 miles northeast of Houston. No cause of death was stated.

The Beaumont native was voted most promising female vocalist by the Academy of Country Music in 1976.

Her other hits included her first chart hit  "Mr. Walker, It's All Over" (No. 4 on the Billboard Country Singles Chart) in 1969; "What I've Got in Mind" in 1976; "Misty Blue" in 1976; and "If You Want Me" in 1977.

The Tennesean then confirmed Billie Jo Spears, the sultry-voiced singer who scored 25 Top 40 country hits from 1969-1984, died of cancer at her Vidor, Texas, home on Wednesday, Dec. 14, at age 74.

Born in Beaumont, Texas, Ms. Spears began working on the Louisiana Hayride radio show when she was 13. She recorded as an early teen, most notably on the single “Too Old for Toys, Too Young for Boys,” which drew regional interest upon its Abbott Records release.

After completing high school, Ms. Spears recorded with producer (and steel guitar great) Pete Drake, and those recordings helped her to a Capitol Records contract.

Vocal problems halted her career path for a time, but in 1975, she hit No. 1 with “Blanket on the Ground,” on United Artists.

Ms. Spears became what Robert K. Oermann of MusicRow.com describes as “one of the most consistent female country hit-makers of the 1970s.” Her bluesy vocals stood apart from others of the time, and in that decade she went on to Top 10 hits including “What I’ve Got in Mind,” “Misty Blue” and “If You Want Me.”

Bio

Born in 1937 in the shipyard city of Beaumont, Texs, she was the daughter of a truck-diver father. Her mother was a welder in the shipyards, as well as a guitarist in the Light Crust Doughboys western-swing band. Billie Jo Spears began singing professionally at age 13. She first recorded in Houston at that age and also appeared on the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, La.

After working as a drive-in restaurant carhop and as a secretary, she moved from Texas to Nashville in 1964. Signing with Capitol Records, she first hit the top-10 on the country charts with 1969’s “Mr. Walker It’s All Over,” the saga of a downtrodden secretary. She followed it with “Pittsburgh General,” which stood up for nurses. Other early singles included “Stepchild” (1969), in which a boy kills his abusive stepfather, and “Marty Gray” (1970), which dealt with teen pregnancy.

She faded from the hit parade and underwent vocal-cord surgery, then scored a huge comeback on United Artists Records with the toe-tapping “Blanket on the Ground.” It became her first and only No. 1 hit, both in the U.S. and abroad.

She fused country songs with danceable pop rhythms in such big hits as 1976’s “What I’ve Got in Mind,” 1977’s “If You Want Me,” 1978’s “57 Chevrolet” and 1979’s remake of Gloria Gaynor’s disco classic “I Will Survive.” Spears was also distinctive in that she rarely recorded female “victim” material. Almost all of her hit ballads are about women asserting themselves. These include “Standing Tall” (1980), “I’ve Got to Go” (1978), “I’m Not Easy” (1977), “Never Did Like Whiskey” (1976) and her revival of Tammy Wynette’s “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad” (1981).

Her other hits include 1976’s “Misty Blue” 1978’s “Love Ain’t Gonna Wait for Us” and 1979’s “Livin’ Our Love Together.” She also recorded several notable duets with the late Del Reeves. Throughout her career, she sang with a tangy Texas accent and a feisty attitude. Her last appearance on the national country charts was in 1984.

In later years, she retained her popularity in the U.K. and recorded several albums for that market. She continued to tour stateside, despite triple-bypass heart surgery in 1993. Her most recent album was released in 2005. She had 22 British shows booked for 2012 at the time of her death in Liverpool, Glasgow, Croyden and other European locales.

No funeral service or survivor information is yet available. Funeral arrangements are being handled by R.S. Farmer Funeral Home,

415 N. Fourth St.

in Silsbee, Texas.

SOURCE - AS Press

Billie Jo Spears sings “What I've Got In Mind” on TOP OF THE POPS (5-08-1976) introduced by the late Jimmy Saville who ironically also died this year on Oct 29, 2011.

YOUTUBE Link

Country Album Billboard Top 200 Chart News December 7, 2011

Country Album Billboard Top 200 Chart News December  7, 2011

Lady Antebellum
Amazon Cover Artt

After the Black Friday Thanksgiving week boost for several artists with discounted albums it was interesting to see how this weeks chart settled down. With steady sales of  Own The Night Lady Antebellum ( 47,596 copies sold) leapt past Scotty McCreery's CLEAR AS DAY to return to #1 on the SoundScan Current Country albums chart and #10 on Top 200 Billboard Album Chart. One place behind them is Scotty with a 42,472 sales haul took a 52% loss from the previous week. 

In her 2nd week on the chart Taylor Swift sold 34,594 taking it to a total haul of 111,761 of Speak Now: World Tour Live in two weeks while My Kinda Party from Jason Aldean returns to the Top 5 with another 25,346 copies and 8% sales drop this past week. After being a big time multiple winner at the American Country Music Awards this week he could well feel the benefit with a sales bump next week.  The Band Perry round out the Top 5 Country Billboard albums with a 58% sales dip this week with fans takjng home 22, 122 copies of their successful self titled album.

Luke Bryan’s  “Tailgates and Tanlines” with 516,081 sales total he hs now officially scanned past the gold mark and now is marching its way to Platinum. 

Miranda Lambert’s "Four The Record" has now shipped a quarter of a million copies. 

After 8 weeks on the chart finally after selling a further 5,523 copies of  "Eleven", Martina McBride has now hit 103,547 copies sold. Whist her Christmas album WHITE CHRISTMAS with a 38% sales gain and 13,996 people taking home her seasonal treat picked up further speed The various artist Now Country IV rounds out the rundown this week with over 210,000 copies sold of the compilation.

LW   TW   Artist                     Album                          

22    10    Lady Antebellum    Own The Night - #10 Billboard & #1 Country, 47,596 sold (3% gain)

9     11    Scotty McCreery     Clear As Day -- #11 Billboard & #2 Country, 42,472  (52% loss)

11    17    Taylor Swift           Speak Now: World Tour - #3 Country, sold 34,594 (111,761),55% loss

37    26    Jason Aldean          My Kinda Party -- #4 Country , sold 25,346  (8% loss)

17    30    The Band Perry      The Band Perry -- #5 Country, selling 22,122  (58% loss)

39    31    Taylor Swift           Speak Now -- #6 Country,selling 21,680 (19% loss)

42    32    Luke Bryan            Tailgates & Tanlines - #7 Country, sold 21,424 (516,081)   

33    35    Toby Keith             Clancy's Tavern -- #8 Country selling 20,554  (37% loss)

45    39    Miranda Lambert    Four The Record  -- #9 Country, selling 18,738  (257,710 total)

78    62    Eric  Church           Chief  -- #10 Country, selling 11,645

46    63    Blake Shelton         Red River Blue  -- #11 Country, selling 11,292

126  91      BROWN*ZAC       You Get What You Give  -- #12 Country, selling 10,223

65    71    Lauren Alaina         Wildflower  -- #13 Countr, selling 10,075

145 108     Lady Antebellum    NEED YOU NOW -- #14 Country,  selling 8,708 (3,732,678)

143  116  Brad Paisley           This Is Country Music -- #15 Country,           selling 8,103     

142  121    Taylor Swift            FEARLESS -- #16 Country,  selling 7,757 (6,419,141)

156 125      Pistol Annies          HELL ON HEELS   -- #17 Country, selling 7,499  (175,287 total)

175 160      Civil Wars              BARTON HOLLOW -- #18 Country, 221,690 total (41% gain )

132  113  Martina McBride      Eleven  -- #19 Country,sold 5,523, total 103,547 (21% loss)

153       121       Various Now Country IV-- #20 Country, 5,351      sold, (210,112)

Country related artists HOLIDAY ALBUMS on the Billboard Top 200 
WKS Label 2W LW TW  Artist  Album  This Weeks Sales    Total Sales

4 CAPN 99 77 46 LADY ANTEBELLUM MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS 18,275 sold (331,943)  
4 BGMA 85 64 49 SWIFT*TAYLOR THE HOLIDAY COLLECTION 17,612 sold (835,180)
4 RLSG 94 130 64 MCBRIDE*MARTINA WHITE CHRISTMAS  13,996  sold (569,159)  38% increase
3 HEIN 59 111 79 PINK MARTINI JOY TO THE WORLD 11,675 sold (176,795)
3 AGGS 144 127 GRANT*AMY CHRISTMAS COLLECTIONS 7,284 sold (230,533)
1 WAR 138 HILL*FAITH JOY TO THE WORLD 6,616 sold (684,136)
2 SMCM 189 149 ROGERS/PARTON ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS 6,244 sold (755,197)
2 MERN 200 186 SUGARLAND GOLD AND GREEN 5,131  sold (324,350)
1 RLSG 197 JACKSON*ALAN HONKY TONK CHRISTMAS 4,826 sold (1,143,394 sold)

Holiday Digital Songs

11 12 24 Where Are You Christmas?, Faith Hill
15 NEW 1 Tracks In The Snow, The Civil Wars
17 22 17 Baby, It's Cold Outside, Lady Antebellum
23 28 15 Last Christmas, Taylor Swift
25 30 6 White Christmas, Michael Buble Duet With Shania Twain
37 NEW 1 Please Come Home For Christmas, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
43 RE-ENTRY 12 Mary, Did You Know, Kenny Rogers With Wynonna
48 45 10 Please Come Home For Christmas, Eagles

COUNTRY SINGLES NEWS

Monday, December 5, 2011

Reigning CMA and ACM Vocal Group of the Year Lady Antebellum stay  #1 with “We Owned the Night”  on the Billboard Country Singles chart this week.

Lady Antebellum remain the #1 spot with “We Owned The Night”

Jason Aldean with  "Tattoos On This Town" stays at #2

Zac Brown Band with “Keep Me In Mind”  moves up one place #4 - #3

Miranda Lamberts “Baggage Claim” drops  #3 - #4

Brantley Gilberts with  “ Country Must Be Country Wide” , stays at #5

 Blake Shelton’s  “God Gave Me You” stays put at #6

David Nail with “Let It Rain” moves up from #9 - #7

Rascal Flatts “Easy” featuring Natasha Bedingfield moves up  #7 - #8

Thompson Square

with “I Got You” moves up one place from #8 - #9

Eric Church with ‘Drink In My Hand’ moves up one to enter the top 10

Country Album Billboard Top 200 Chart News November 30th, 2011

Country Album Billboard Top 200 Chart News November 30th, 2011



Scotty McCreery Album Cover
Amazon Image



With Thanksgiving and the holiday season well underway how did those Black Friday sales affect the Billboard charts?  

Well with a 165% sales gain of CLEAR AS DAY across the country, Idol 2011 winner Scotty McCreery  jumped from 13-9 on the Top 200 Billboard Chart  holding off the charge from Taylor Swift, ending her #1 album streak. She debuted at #2 with her Live CD/DVD (or Blu-Ray) and surprisingly was not able to overhaul Scotty this week. Scotty’s fans took home 87,755 copies compared to Taylor’s Live set which sold 76,882 copies which is nowhere near what Garth Brooks Platinum debut with DOUBLE LIVE achieved.

The Band Perry’s album sold briskly during the Holiday gift-giving starting week as well, selling 53,110 which was a 213% sales increase.

Lady Antebellum’s OWN THE NIGHT at # 4 on the Billboard Country chart had a 45 % gain and Toby Keith’s CLANCY’S TAVERN fared even better with a 69% sales hike. The song “Red Solo Cup,” a viral hit from Clancy’s Tavern will be performed by Chord Overstreet on the December 6, 2011 on the Glee television program (Overstreet is the son of Grammy and CMA Award winning songwriter Paul Overstreet). So Toby could well get more spin-off sales after that that performance. (Watch The Glee "Red Solo Cup" Video)

Jason Aldean at # 6 with a 34% gain fell out of Top 5. Taylor Swift’s 2010 album SPEAK NOW has now sold 3,776,267 and stands at  #7 Country Album selling 26,680 (112% gain) and is nearing now nearing 4x platinum status.

The big holiday sale surprise was Tim McGraw’s 2010 double disc collection of #1 hits NUMBER ONE HITS. The album gained a whopping 755% sales increase to jump back into the all-genre Top 40 with 26,296 copies sold. In its previous week it sold only 3,000 copies.  This week Tim has been seeking to leave Curb Records and has won a court ruling in Nashville allowing him to keep recording while a lawsuit against him by Curb Records continues.

TAILGATES AND TANLINES from Luke Bryan has now sold a total of 494,657 so it’s nearly Platinum.

Miranda Lambert’s made FOUR THE RECORD stands at # 10 selling 24,284 a 14% loss and at 238,972 sold nearly a quarter of a million albums since being released 4 weeks ago. On the other hand her last album REVOLUTION had a 305% sales increase taking total sales to 1,436,112.

George Strait and Lauren Alaina on UMG Nashville artists scored strong double digit percent increases in sales over the previous week while Billy Currington also a UMG Nashville artist with his album ENJOY YOURSELF was this weeks #15 Country Album, it sold 12,901 – scored a 412% sales increase!

Sara Evans rebounds on the chart this week to land inside the country Top 20 this week with a 351% sales increase.

Blake Shelton LOADED: THE BEST OF BLAKE SHELTON from 2010 scored a 248% sales increase getting him closer to another Gold record.

Jake Owen’s BAREFOOT BLUE JEAN NIGHT drew sales of 10,464 an impressive 153%.

The Pistol Annie's at # 155 on the Top 200 have sold to date 167,788 copies of HELL ON HEELS all of this without a real radio hit.

Martina McBride’s WHITE CHRISTMAS sold 10,164 copies a 47% gain which sold over 3000 copies more than her recent release ELEVEN which stands at # 189 on the Top 200.

The overall picture was nearly double the amount of albums were sold in the SoundScan top 200 Albums last week compared to the previous week which equates to over 2,000,000 albums more.

LW     TW     Artist                   Album

13      9        Scotty McCreery     Clear As Day - #9 Billboard & #1 Country sold 87,755 (165% gain)

NEW  11      Taylor Swift           Speak Now: Word Tour -- #2 Country Album selling 76,882

35      17      The Band Perry      The Band Perry -- #3 Country Album selling 53,110 (213% gain)

16      22      Lady Antebellum     Own The Night  -- #4 Country Album selling 46,180  (45% gain)

30      33      Toby Keith             Clancy's Tavern  -- #5 Country Album selling 32,880 (69% gain)

29      37       Jason Aldean         My Kinda Party  -- #6 Country Album selling 27,582 (34% gain)

45      39      Taylor Swift           Speak Now -- #7 Country Album selling 26,680 (112% gain)

156    40      Tim McGraw           Number One Hits  -- #8 Country Album selling 26,296 (755% gain)

26      42      Luke Bryan            Tailgates & Tanlines  -- #9 Country Album selling 25,912 (19% gain)

20      45      Miranda Lambert    Four The Record   -- #10 Country Album selling 24,284 (14% loss)

53      46       Blake Shelton        Red River Blue  -- #11 Country Album selling 24.080 (121% gain)

65      59      George Strait         Here For A Good Time -- #12 Country selling 19,090 (120% gain)

68      65      Lauren Alaina         Wildflower -- #13 Country Album selling 17,582 (107% gain)

46      78      Eric  Church           Chief -- #14 Country Album selling 14,269 (17% gain)

194    85      Billy Currington      Enjoy Yourself  -- #15 Country Album selling 12,901 (412% gain)

175    87      Sara Evans            Stronger -- #16 Country Album selling 12,801 (351% gain)

109     105    Miranda Lambert    Revolution  -- #17 Country sold 12,251 (305% gain) 1,436,112 total

69      110    Brantley Gilbert      Halfway to Heaven --- #18 Country Album selling 11,828 (21% gain)

 -       113    Blake Shelton         Loaded: The Best of…-- #19 Country selling 11,663 (248% gain)

71      125    Zac Brown Band     You Get What You Give -- #20 Country selling 10,537 (11% gain)

158    126    Jake Owen             Barefoot Blue Jean Night -- #21 Country selling 10,464 (153% gain)

COUNTRY SINGLES NEWS

Monday, November 28, 2011



Lady Antebellum
Cover Art (Wiki)



Reigning CMA and ACM Vocal Group of the Year Lady Antebellum moved up from #3 - #1 with their anthemic “We Owned the Night” to take the top spot on the Billboard Country Singles chart this week, marking the trio’s sixth career number one hit. The track has already scored big internationally, having spent three weeks at No. one on the Billboard Canada Country chart.

The tune was penned by band members Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, along with Dallas Davidson, one third of Nashville writing trio the Peach Pickers. Earlier this month, Davidson was crowned as BMI’s Songwriter of the Year for his successes throughout the year, which include penning Lady A’s previous hit single, ‘Just a Kiss.’

"This is our tour opener, and every night when we start into it, you can definitely feel the support that country radio has given this song.  Everyone is ready for it, and the energy really helps get the night kicked off right and sets the tone," says Charles Kelley.  "It's crazy to think we've had six number one hits…we want to send out a big thank you to all of our friends at country radio, our record label and our fans!  We know these don't come easy…it's a big group effort!"

“We Owned the Night” becomes the second #1 single off the group’s Platinum certified new album OWN THE NIGHT, which became country music’s biggest first week debut this year. The trio were honoured as one of CMT’s five Artists of the Year on Tuesday November 30, 2011 and the event will air Dec. 3.in America.

Lady Antebellum hit the #1 spot with “We Owned The Night” moves up 2 places from #3

Jason Aldean with  "Tattoos On This Town" stays at #2

Miranda Lamberts “Baggage Claim” goes up #4 - #3

Zac Brown Band with “Keep Me In Mind”  makes a move rising from #8 - #4

Brantley Gilberts with  “ Country Must Be Country Wide” , last weeks #1 drops down 4 places to #5

Former number 1 Blake Shelton’s  “God Gave Me You” stays put at #6

Rascal Flatts “Easy” featuring Natasha Bedingfield goes up 3 places from #10 - #7

Thompson Square with “I Got You” moves up one place from #9 - #8

David Nail with “Let It Rain” enters the Top 10 at #9

 Taylor Swift and  “Sparks Fly” a former #1 drops another 5 places landing at #10