Chris Stapleton’s first album has been in stores since May, but after earning three awards at the County Music Association Awards last week, he has rocketed to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. It sold more in one week than it had between May and October.
Stapleton won all three CMA Awards he was nominated for: Album of the Year for Traveler, Male Vocalist of the Year and New Artist of the Year. Traveler had actually been released on May 5 by Mercury Records and had only sold 96,000 copies before the awards show, notes Billboard.
However, Traveler jumped to No. 1 with 177,000 total units moved through Nov. 5, according to Nielsen Music. Of that total, 153,000 were actual album sales. The album’s previous peak was its debut at No. 14 in May, with just 27,000 copies sold that week.
Carrie Underwood’s Storyteller stayed at No. 2 with 81,000 units (73,000 actual albums sold) and Eric Church’s surprise Mr. Misunderstood debuted at No. 3 with 76,000 units (71,000 copies sold). Church’s album was only available at iTunes first, so only 1,000 copies were sold in stores before the end of the chart week.
Now 56 debuted at No. 4 with 58,000 units. Def Leppard had the last debut of the week with a new self-titled album, which only sold 30,000 copies.
Also worth noting - Taylor Swift’s 1989 finally fell out of the Top 10. After spending 53 weeks in the Top 10, the album is at No. 11 this week with around 30,000 units.
Here’s the Top 10 (*new release)
1. Chris Stapleton, Traveler (177,000 units)
2. Carrie Underwood, Storyteller (81,000)
3. Eric Church, Mr. Misunderstood* (76,000)
4. Now 56* (58,000)
5. The Weeknd, Beauty Behind The Madness (49,000)
6. Fetty Wap, Fetty Wap (39,000)
7. 5 Seconds of Summer, Sounds Good Feels Good (32,000)
8. We Love Disney* (26,000)
9. Drake and Future, What A Time To Be Alive (30,000)
10. Def Leppard, Def Leppard* (30,000)