Country Album Billboard Top 200 Chart News February 1, 2012

Country Album Billboard Top 200 Chart News February 1, 2012

As ever Adele's "21" stays at No. 1 on The Billboard Top 200 Album Chart for an 18th non-consecutive week. It had a sales boost of 22% with another 115,973 copies finding there way into fans hands. This sales increase was helped by a now deluxe version of the set, reissued in Target stores last week priced at $13.99.

Tim McGraw Heads the Traffic

Tim McGraw
Emotional Traffic
AMAZON CD Artwork

Tim McGraw debuted at #2 on the chart with sales of 67,530 for his album EMOTIONAL TRAFFIC. It becomes the singer's 14th top 10 album on the Billboard 200 and 13th No. 1 on the Country Albums chart. His last studio album in comparison, 2009's "Southern Voice," also debuted at #2 on the Top 200 but at 137,000 copies sold this is double this week’s debut tally.

"There are a lot of possibilities with this record. It's hard to say," said Wade Jessen, who tracks country music and other charts for Billboard Magazine in Nashville.

"I think at least in the public comments Tim has made about it, he's very much a cheerleader for this music, and that may go a long way to making the most emotionally invested fans overlook the fact that it's coming out on a record label Tim has had some issues with. And we know how loyal country music fans are. They like for their artists to be treated fairly and with respect, and if there's any perception otherwise it can guide their decisions."

With legal issues to resolve still, McGraw and Curb executives aren't doing interviews to promote Emotional Traffic. But McGraw laid the groundwork for a promotional campaign in a few interviews last year. He also previewed a handful of cuts from the album on last year's extremely popular Emotional Traffic tour.

In an interview last April, McGraw said he couldn't wait for fans to hear the new album. After recording four or five LPs with his road band, The Dancehall Doctors, McGraw decided to use a different set of musicians on Emotional Traffic and looked to open up his sound. He brought in Ne-Yo for a duet as well.

"There are some great players," McGraw said.

"A couple of guys from Paul McCartney's band are on this album. Paul Bushnell is on bass, who's one of my favourite bass players ever. The songs are just really fresh and cool. I'm excited."

McGraw's longtime producer Byron Gallimore agrees. He says over the two decades they've worked together, they've used a formula for choosing songs. Emotional Traffic continues that trend of not only including country material, but expanding into areas like R&B, pop and rock. McGraw can then use his voice to pull the song back into country territory."We're certainly happy with it and feel like it's one of our best," Gallimore said.

"I think every time you do another one you feel like it's probably better than the last one, for me personally at least. We've got a great batch of songs on here and I'm just excited that it's getting out there. ... I feel very strongly about this record. I would agree with Tim on that."

Without McGraw's direct help, Curb has had to get creative with its promotion. It's liberally using McGraw's "best ever" quote, for one, enlisting the artist's help at least passively. The label also partnered with National Public Radio's First Listen series to stream the album for a week leading up to release. While this practice isn't unusual in the indie rock world, it's a step in a different direction for mainstream country. [ Source Associated Press ]

Kellie Pickler’s traditional 100 Proof gamble pays dividends 



Kellie Pickler
100 Proof
(Amazon CD Art)



Kellie Pickler also debuts with her brand new offering "100 PROOF" giving the former "American Idol" contestant a third straight top 10 . It’s also her highest-charting album yet. This, her third release, debuts at #7 on Billboard with sales of 27,448 copies. Her single from the album “Tough” didn’t really make any impact on the country radio charts with sales so far of 143,000. Country fans though are warming to a more traditional-sounding album.

“I'm so proud of this album,” shares Pickler. “I want to thank the fans so much for buying it and supporting country music. I know these are hard times economically and the fact that people spend their hard earned money on 100 Proof is humbling.”

100 Proof has critics touting praise for Pickler with Entertainment Weekly calling 100 Proof Kellie’s “meatiest, most adventurous output yet.” The Miami Herald said “a major label won’t release a more authentic or better country album in 2012 than Pickler’s surprisingly terrific 100 Proof.” The Associated Press calls 100 Proof “hardcore country” and describes the song, “Stop Cheatin’ On Me,” as being “drenched in old-fashioned heartbreak.”
Parade shares that Pickler is “bearing her Southern soul” on 100 Proof and The New York Daily News says that “100 Proof has a far greater sense of place, with steel guitars, fiddles and banjos that don’t just sound like tokens but rather integral parts of the song. The opening cut, ‘Where’s Tammy Wynette,’ earns its invocation of the icon with a feisty tune and a wide vocal arc.”

Luke Bryan is this weeks #3 country album with TAILGATES & TANLINES, it sold 16,186 , a sales increase of 18%.

Lady Antebellum at #4, out of a US tour again, saw a 9% sales boost to 15,062 copies.

Last week’s #1 Country Album Toby Keith’s CLANCY’S TAVERN moves down to # 6 with sales of 11,535 (33% loss). He is now very close to selling 400,000 copies. His single “Red Solo Cup” has now entered the Top 10 Hot Country Songs chart.

Martina McBrides’ HITS AND MORE dropped from a debut of #47 to #84 on the Top 200 were a sales loss of 30% selling 7,394.

Blake Shelton saw a 84% sales boost (8,600 copies) of RED RIVER BLUE whilst wife Miranda Lambert has almost reached 400,000 copies sold of FOUR THE RECORD.

Billboard 200 Albums Chart
Week Ending January 29, 2012

LW	TW	Artist Name	Album Title	TW	% CHG	Total	Country Chart
-	2	Tim McGraw	Emotional Traffic	67,530	999	67,610	#1
-	7	Kellie Pickler	100 Proof	27,448	999	27,533	#2
18	21	Luke Bryan	Tailgates & Tanlines	16,186	18	712,290	#3
17	23	Lady Antebellum	Own The Night	15,062	9	1,268,788	#4
24	27	Jason Aldean	My Kinda Party	12,852	8	2,317,328	#5
8	32	Toby Keith	Clancy's Tavern	11,535	-33	397,407	#6
29	34	Scotty McCreery	Clear As Day	11,410	7	901,287	#7
22	37	The Band Perry	Band Perry	10,989	-10	1,112,975	#8
92	48	Blake Shelton	Red River Blue	8,600	84	532,404	#9
44	50	Eric Church	Chief	8,483	12	577,571	#10
34	51	Taylor Swift	Speak Now	8,433	-11	3,962,228	#11
38	52	Brantley Gilbert	Halfway To Heaven	8,400	-1	430,038	#12
57	59	Miranda Lambert	Four The Record	7,394	12	399,967	#13
62	66	Zac Brown Band	You Get What You Give	6,623	2	1,389,842	#14
37	67	Tim McGraw	Number One Hits	6,470	-28	551,819	#15
-	70	Various	Now Country Ballads	6,268	999	6,268	#16
47	84	Martina McBride	Hits & More	5,226	-30	12,759	#17
83	87	Civil Wars	Barton Hollow	5,078	3	280,216	#18
80	92	Pistol Annies	Hell On Heels	4,820	-3	253,974	#19

COUNTRY SINGLES NEWS

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Chris Young
Single Artwork

Chris Young has two nominations for the 47^th annual Academy of Country Music Awards in the categories of Male Vocalist of the Year and Single Record and now he finds himself in elite company as he joins Blake Shelton as one of only two solo artists to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart with their five most recent singles. 

 “You” (penned by Young with Luke Laird) from this album NEON has hit the top spot  this week - “I am ecstatic,” says Chris after hearing the news. “I’ve been excited for each #1 and to have five in a row feels amazing!” The song has received over 350,000 downloads.  It stands at #49 on the Billboard Hot Digital tracks with a total of 443,393 sales.

Chris Young with “You” moves up 1 spot to reach the Top of the Chart

Luke Bryan’s “I Don’t Want This Night To End”, last weeks #1 is now at #2

The Band Perry with “All Your Life” move up from  #4 - #3

Eric Church with the former #1 ‘Drink In My Hand’ drops #3 - #4

Keith Urban with “You Gonna Fly” moves up two more spots #7 - #5

Kenny Chesney’s “Reality”  stays at  #6

Zac Brown Band with former #1 “Keep Me In Mind”  drops from #5 - #7

Dierks Bentley  with “Home” moves up 2 places from #10 - #8

Martina McBride with “I’m Gonna Love You Through It” stays at #9

Toby Keith with “Red Solo Cup” enters the Top 10, moving from #11 -#10

Billboard Top 200 Hot Digital Tracks
Week Ending January 29, 2012

LW	TW	Artist Name	Title	TW	% CHG	LW	Total
18	18	Toby Keith	Red Solo Cup	68,686	-11	77,596	1,258,900
22	21	Luke Bryan	I Don't Want This Night To End	60,270	-5	63,777	1,031,020
37	37	Taylor Swift	Ours	44,699	-10	49,893	679,601
47	43	Jake Owen	Alone With You	37,932	-3	39,278	309,347
56	46	Lee Brice	A Woman Like You	33,789	3	32,883	265,527
50	49	Chris Young	You	32,402	-13	37,404	443,393
57	53	Lady Antebellum	Just A Kiss	29,374	-10	32,711	798,199

Come back next week to see if Tim McGraw and Chris Young still top the Country charts