country routes news: Kenny Chesney Live in No Shoes Nation bundles in at No.1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart

Kenny Chesney Live in No Shoes Nation is #1

219,000 Is 8^th#1 Billboard 200 Bow, 15^th 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.”

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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.