Kenny Chesney Live in No Shoes Nation is #1
219,000 Is 8th #1 Billboard
200 Bow, 15th Country Album
Biggest Live Country Album Debut of This Century
Monday, Nov. 6, 2017
Somewhere in No Shoes Nation —
When Kenny Chesney started listening
to show tapes from the last decade, it was just to relive some special moments
from a life lived largely on the road. But the more he listened, the more he
was struck by what he heard coming back from the other side of the footlights.
It was the fans – known as the No Shoes Nation – who knocked him out track
after track, summer after summer. And with that knowledge Live in No
Shoes Nation came to life.
“It’s such a rush to hear No
Shoes Nation in full force,” Chesney says. “As fast as the nights go down, I
didn’t even realize how good they sound – and the energy, the heart and the
voices are awesome in the moment – so I wanted to make sure they got to hear
what I was hearing during my year off.”
To heighten that connection
between the live experience and these recordings, Chesney opted to make the physical recordings available to anyone
purchasing a ticket to next summer’s Trip Around the Sun 2018
stadium shows.
Traditional album sales, were
likely driven by the concert ticket and album sale bundle. The cost of "Live In No Shoes
Nation" was combined with the price of each ticket sold online for next
year's tour. Ticket purchasers were contacted afterwards, inviting them to
redeem an email for the album. Only albums redeemed counted toward these
sales figures.
As the only country artist
on Billboard’s Top 10 Touring Acts of the Last 25 Years, in spite
of only becoming a true headliner in 2002, Chesney has been called “The King of
the Road” by The Wall Street Journal and “The People’s
Superstar” by Los AngelesTimes for his ability to connect at the
stadium level for the last dozen years.
.@TaylorSwift13 surprised me at the kickoff of our 2015 tour for "Big Star". It's on #liveinnoshoesnation. Get it: https://t.co/ffkmN22DMx pic.twitter.com/yWgWDPIjBR— Kenny Chesney (@kennychesney) 1 November 2017
“It is about the connection,”
he says. “Before the people ever get close, I’m sitting at the farthest point
from the stage feeling how far it is from where I’ll be standing. Whether it’s
somewhere intimate like Stone Pony in Asbury Park or AT&T Stadium, I want
to know how far to reach – so everyone is brought into these songs and this
moment.”
Evidently, it was a moment to
hold onto.
With stadium tickets on-sale, pre-orders and
physical album sales, Chesney’s Live
in No Shoes Nation comes in with total sales of 219,000. Beyond the sheer
number, Live in No Shoes Nation becomes Chesney’s eighth No.1 Billboard 200 debut, as well as his fifteenth
No. 1 Top Country Albums bow.
Live in No Shoes Nation is the
biggest country live debut this century. Beyond seminal concert
recordings Frampton Comes Alive, Bruce Springsteen’s Live
1975-1985, and the Allman Brothers’ Live at the Filmore East, Live
in No Shoes Nation is the biggest double live country release since
Garth Brooks’ 1998 Double Live. With this week’s sales, Chesney has
hit Gold long before the 30 days needed for certification.
Billboard reported that:
Most of that 219,000 sum was driven
by traditional album sales, bolstered by
a concert ticket/album bundle sale redemption promotion with Chesney’s
upcoming stadium tour. Live in No Shoes Nation was released on Oct. 27 via Blue
Chair/Columbia Nashville.
Nielsen Music does not detail
how much of any album’s sales are generated by concert ticket/album bundle offers. However, CD sales from
ticket bundles are generally categorized as internet sales by the company,
and Live in No Shoes Nation’s internet sales figure is 197,000. So, it’s likely most of that number is from the ticket
bundle — minus a small amount (perhaps in the low five-figures) — for
traditional sales from Amazon and other web retailers.
Chesney previously led the Billboard 200 with:
LIFE
ON A ROCK (released April 30, 2013; 152,805
copies sold; 86,413 Physical copies + 66,392 Digital albums; chart week May
18, 2013) in its first week at retail according to Nielsen SoundScan.)
HEMINGWAY’S
WHISKEY (released Sept 28, 2010; 183,469 copies
sold; chart Oct 16, 2010)
LUCKY
OLD SUN (released Oct 14, 2008; 176,414 copies
sold; chart Nov 8, 2017)
THE
ROAD AND THE RADIO (released Nov 8, 2005)
BE
AS YOU ARE: SONGS FROM AN OLD BLUE CHAIR (released Jan 25, 2005)
WHEN
THE SUN GOES DOWN (released Feb 3, 2004; 3,7 million sold by Nov
2005)
NO
SHOES, NO SHIRT, NO PROBLEMS (released April 23, 2002; 235,000 copies sold in first week; earned a 4×
Platinum certification).
THE
BIG REVIVAL (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville; released Sept
23, 2014) debuted at No.2 on the Billboard
200 and No.1 of Top Country Albums (129,670 copies sold; Chart dated Oct. 11, 2014).
JUST
WHO I AM: POETS & PIRATES (released Sept 11, 2007) his tenth
studio album, debuted at No.2 on the
Billboard 200 and No.1 of Top
Country Albums (386,685 copies sold; Chart
dated Sept 29, 2007).
His 16th studio album COSMIC HALLELUJAH (Blue Chair/Columbia
Nashville; released Oct 28, 2016) sold and debuted at No.2 on the Billboard 200 and No.1
of Top Country Albums 89,000 units multi-metric
album consumption units; 79,485 copies in pure
sales). Cosmic Hallelujah marked Chesney’s 12th consecutive charting album to
debut inside the top four of the Billboard 200, going all the way back to
2004’s No.1 set WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN.
Chesney first debuted on the
Billboard 200 a little more than 20 years ago, when ME AND YOU entered the list at No.196 on the Sept. 28, 1996-dated
chart. It eventually peaked at No.78 the following year. He didn’t reach the
top 40 until 2000, when his Greatest Hits album debuted and peaked at No.13.
EVERYWHERE
WE GO" (released March 2, 1999) peaked at No.51 on the Billboard 200 and No.5 of Top Country Albums, opened with
30,000 units in 1999, and his 2000 "GREATEST
HITS" compilation sold 85,000 units in its opening week.
Live in No
Shoes Nation is a
29-track album and collects live highlights from Chesney’s various tours,
stretching back to 2007’s Flip Flop Summer tour. Among the guests on the
album: Taylor Swift, Dave Matthews, Grace Potter and Eric Church. Chesney’s last live album, 2006’s LIVE: LIVE
THOSE SONGS AGAIN (released Sept 19, 2006;
145,829 copies sold; chart Oct 14, 2006), peaked at No.4 in its debut
frame, according to Nielsen Music.
“So much has happened over the last 10 years,” Chesney marvels. “But the one thing that remained consistent, that’s been there no matter what are the people of No Shoes Nation. They’ve always been why I do what I do, but listening to all these shows, I realized they’re the heartbeat to everything me and my road family do. The more I heard those voices singing, the energy and the power, the more I wanted everyone who’s ever come to our shows to hear it, too. Those moments when you’re so completely free are the greatest feeling in the world…”
Thirty songs. Guests. Hits and
obscure tracks. Stadiums and local bars. It’s all here on Live in No
Shoes Nation. Until Kenny Chesney hits the road April 21 at Tampa’s
Raymond James Stadium, fans, friends and the No Shoes Nation can get their
summer on right here.
Related Post:
5 Oct 2017: Kenny Chesney Hits No. 1 with “All
The Pretty Girls”
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