Billboard 200: 8/13/11: Eric Church #1: 145k

[areyoureadytojump]

www.billboard.com/#/news/eric-church-lands-first-no-1-album-amy-winehouse-1005301602.story

As projected last week, country singer Eric Church takes his third album, "Chief," straight in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 145,000 sold according to Nielsen SoundScan (with an even bigger sales figure that expected). The debut marks the artist's first topper on not just this chart but also on the Top Country Albums tally.

Church's last set, 2009's "Carolina," debuted and peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 with 31,000 sold in its first week. It has moved 496,000 total in the U.S.

Those who may draw a blank when hearing the words "Eric Church" shouldn't necessarily be faulted. He's yet to notch a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and has only gone as high as No. 10 on the radio airplay-powered Hot Country Songs chart. While he isn't a superstar act on country radio yet, he's been steadily building a fan base thanks to touring since his "Sinners Like Me" album arrived in 2006.

Church is the second country act to earn their first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 in less than a month. Blake Shelton grabbed his first two weeks ago with "Red River Blue" after a decade of earlier charting efforts.

Elsewhere on the Billboard 200 this week, Kelly Rowland's third album, "Here I Am," arrives at No. 3 with 77,000. It's her highest charting album yet, surpassing the No. 6 peak of her last release, 2007's "Ms. Kelly," which bowed with 83,000. Rowland's "Here" was led by the single "Motivation," which spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Last week's No. 1 album, Adele's "21," falls to No. 2 with 83,000 (up 7%).

Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" unsurprisingly surges up the chart, moving up 9-4 (54,000; up 44%) after a full week's worth of sales impact following her death on Saturday, July 23. Last week's chart only reflected two days of sales after news broke of her passing. (SoundScan's tracking week ends at the close of business on Sunday.) Her earlier album, "Frank," also rallies, climbing 57-33 with 12,000 (up 58%). On the Digital Songs chart, "Rehab" rises 46-20 (66,000; up 75%) while she also re-enters with "You Know I'm No Good" (No. 52 with 32,000 -- up 76%) and "Back to Black" (No. 55 with 31,000; up 81%).

One more debut dots the top 10 of the albums chart this week as Joss Stone's "LP1" starts at No. 9 with 30,000. It's the singer's third top 10 album and it follows "Colour Me Free!," which debuted and peaked at No. 10 in 2009 with a 27,000 bow.

Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party" rises 8-5 (42,000; down 4%), Beyonce's "4" falls 4-6 (41,000; down 23%), "Kidz Bop 20" slides 2-7 (39,000; down 44%) and Shelton's "Red River Blue" drifts 6-8 (31,000; down 34%). Closing out the top 10 is Bad Meets Evil's "Hell: the Sequel," which is up one slot to No. 10 (26,000; down 9%).

Over on the Digital Songs chart, LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" is firm at No. 1 (202,000; down 4%) while Bad Meets Evil's "Lighters" (featuring Bruno Mars) rises 5-2 (165,000; up 15%).

The biggest jump to the top 10 is Jay-Z & Kanye West's "Otis" (featuring Otis Redding) which zips 40-9 (113,000; up 159%).

Kanye West & Jay-Z Hold 'Watch the Throne' Listening Party at Planetarium

Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" falls 2-3 (151,000; down 8%), Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass" falls 3-4 (145,000; down 6%) and Hot Chelle Rae's "Tonight Tonight" slips 4-5 (134,000; down 10%). Lil Wayne's "How to Love" is steady at No. 6 (131,000; down 6%), Britney Spears' "I Wanna Go" skips 9-7 (116,000; down less than 1%) and Pitbull's "Give Me Everything" is down 7-8 (114,000; down 10%). Rounding out the top 10 is Adele's "Rolling in the Deep," falling two slots to No. 10 (106,000; down 12%).

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending July 31) totaled 5.79 million units, up 3% compared to the sum last week (5.62 million) and up 11% compared to the comparable sales week of 2010 (5.21 million). Year to date album sales stand at 177.83 million, up 2% compared to the same total at this point last year (174.92 million). It is the tenth week in a row where year-to-date album volume is greater than the same time in the prior year.

Digital track sales this past week totaled 23.37 million downloads, down 3% compared to last week (24.06 million) and up 13% stacked next to the comparable week of 2010 (20.70 million). Year to date track sales are at 754.40 million, up 11% compared to the same total at this point last year (681.26 million).

Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2010 when: Arcade Fire's future Grammy winner for album of the year, "The Suburbs," moved in at No. 1 in its first week, selling 156,000 copies. The previous week's leader, Avenged Sevenfold's "Nightmare," fell to No. 3 with 45,000 (down 72%).

[areyoureadytojump]

www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.16272/title.hip-hop-album-sales-the-week-ending-7-31-2011/


Rank Artist Album This Week Est. Total
5 Beyonce "4" 41,000 593,000

[HolidayGuy]

^Billboard actually remembered Beyonce's album this week.

Year-to-year album sales up 2%. :o

And, of course, big difference between HITS and SoundScan for Back to Black. Wonder why that is.

[Arabella21]

new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/74395/week-ending-july-31-2011-albums-amymichael/

Digital accounted for most of this week's U.S. sales for Back In Black (45K out of 54K total). That partly reflects the fact that physical stock in stores that sell CDs (remember them?) was low at the time of her death. Back To Black this week becomes the 13th album to top the 500K mark in digital sales. Only one album has ever taken longer to get there. John Mayer's 2006 album Continuum reached 500K in May.

[HolidayGuy]

The whole Yahoo article:

Week Ending July 31, 2011. Albums: Amy & Michael
Posted by Paul Grein in Chart Watch

Amy Winehouse's Back To Black jumps from #9 to #4 on The Billboard 200 in the first full week following the singer's death. This is the highest posthumous ranking by any artist since Michael Jackson's MICHAEL debuted at #3 in December.

Winehouse's death received more media attention than any other in pop music since Jackson's in June 2009. In both cases, the deaths were jolting but not totally surprising. Both artists were tremendously gifted and deeply troubled, qualities that often, cruelly, go hand-in-hand.

Back To Black is doing even better in Winehouse's native England, where it vaults from #59 to #1. This is the album's fourth total week on top in the U.K. Winehouse's 2005 debut album Frank re-enters the U.K. chart at #5, which surpasses its initial #13 peak.

Frank vaults from #57 to #33 on The Billboard 200. Winehouse's two albums are #1 and #3 on the Top Catalog Albums chart. (Adele's 2008 album 19 is #2 on that survey.)

Winehouse's 2007 smash "Rehab" vaults from #46 to #20 on Hot Digital Songs. The song sold 66K copies this week, bringing its total to 1,829,000. The song's killer beat and retro sound are irresistible, though Winehouse's lyrics about refusing to go to rehab now seem terribly sad.

Three other Winehouse songs move up Hot Digital Songs this week. "You Know I'm No Good" jumps from #103 to #52 (32K), "Back To Black" jumps from #114 to #55 (31K) and "Valerie" (from the import edition of Back To Black) jumps from #200 to #121 (15K).

Digital accounted for most of this week's U.S. sales for Back In Black (45K out of 54K total). That partly reflects the fact that physical stock in stores that sell CDs (remember them?) was low at the time of her death. Back To Black this week becomes the 13th album to top the 500K mark in digital sales. Only one album has ever taken longer to get there. John Mayer's 2006 album Continuum reached 500K in May.

Winehouse is one of three English female singers to appear in the top 10 on this week's Billboard 200. The others are Adele, whose 21 dips from #1 to #2, and Joss Stone, whose LP1 debuts at #9.

21 this week becomes the first album to spend its first 23 weeks inside the top three since Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard soundtrack, which remained in the top three for its first 28 weeks in 1992-1993. It went on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year, a feat 21 will almost certainly match next year.

LP1 is Stone's third consecutive top 10 album. It follows Introducing Joss Stone (#2 in 2007) and Color Me Free! (#10 in 2009). Introducing Joss Stone entered the chart at #2 one week after Back In Black debuted at #7. Stone first hit The Billboard 200 in 2003, when she was just 16.

Eric Church's Chief bows at #1. This is the country singer's third album; his first to make the top 10. Church's 2009 album Carolina debuted and peaked at #17. It has sold a healthy 496,000 copies. Chief is also #1 on Top Country Albums and Top Digital Albums (it sold 51K digital copies this week). It's Church's first #1 on both of these charts.

Church's album includes "Drink In My Hand," "Hungover And Hard Up," "Jack Daniels" and "I'm Getting' Stoned." These songs are balanced by songs titled "Like Jesus Does" and "Country Music Jesus." Both of these themes have long been prevalent in country music.

Church's album also includes a song titled "Springsteen." Bruce Springsteen has never cracked Hot Country Songs (or Albums), but today's country artists and audiences grew up listening to '70s rock acts, such as Springsteen, Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Jimmy Buffett.

You can see Church's album cover in the top 10 list. It seems to me he would have been better off removing the shades (and maybe cracking a smile), but he's #1, so what do I know?

Kelly Rowland's Here I Am debuts at #3. This is the third solo album by the former member of Destiny's Child. Each has climbed higher on the chart than the one before it. Rowland's 2002 solo debut Simply Deep peaked at #12. 2007's Ms. Kelly hit #6. The new album has been buoyed by the success of the hit "Motivation" (featuring Lil Wayne), which spent seven weeks at #1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

Rowland's album sold about one-quarter as many copies as Beyonce's 4 did (310K) when it debuted at #1 four weeks ago. But it's not really fair to compare the former group-mates, who are on different career tracks. (4 drops from #4 to #6 this week.)

Jason Aldean's My Kinda Party rebounds from #8 to #5. The album has sold 1,619,000 copies, which is the largest total for an album by a male country solo artist since Garth Brooks' The Ultimate Hits, which has sold 2,373,000 copies since its release in 2007.

"Otis" by Jay-Z and Kanye West featuring Otis Redding vaults from #40 to #9 on Hot Digital Songs. How high will it climb on the Hot 100? And can Katy Perry finally dislodge LMFAO to claim her fifth consecutive #1 hit? (The song jumps to #1 this week on Billboard's Pop Songs chart, which is different from the Hot 100). You'll found out later today when we post Chart Watch: Songs.

Here's the low-down on this week's top 10 albums.

1. Eric Church, Chief, 145,000. This new entry is the country singer's first top 10 album. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "Homeboy" drops from #52 to #72. "Drink In My Hand" debuts at #95.

2. Adele, 21, 83,000. The former #1 album dips from #1 to #2 in its 23rd week. Four songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Rolling In The Deep," which drops from #8 to #10.

3. Kelly Rowland, Here I Am, 77,000. This new entry is Rowland's second top 10 solo album. She also had four top 10 albums as part of Destiny's Child. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "Motivation" (featuring Lil Wayne) jumps from #36 to #30. "Lay It On Me" (featuring Big Sean) debuts at #136.

4. Amy Winehouse, Back In Black, 54,000. The album jumps from #9 to #4 in its 80th week on the chart. This is its 18th week in the top 10. Three songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Rehab," which rebounds from #46 to #20.

5. Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party, 42,000. The album rebounds from #8 to #5 in its 39th week. This is its 17th week in the top 10. Three songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Dirt Road Anthem," which holds at #11.

6. Beyonce, 4, 41,000. The former #1 album drops from #4 to #6 in its fifth week. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "Best Thing I Never Had" holds at #19. "Run The World (Girls)" drops from #100 to #118.

7. Kidz Bop Kids, Kidz Bop 20, 39,000. The album drops from #2 to #7 in its second week. The album has sold 107K copies in its first two weeks.

8. Blake Shelton, Red River Blue, 31,000. The former #1 album drops from #6 to #8 in its second week. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "Honey Bee" drops from #24 to #32. "God Gave Me You" jumps from #59 to #56.

9. Joss Stone, LP1, 30,000. This new entry is Stone's third consecutive top 10 album. No songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. That can't be good.

10. Bad Meets Evil, Hell: The Sequel, 26,000. The former #1 album rebounds from #11 to #10 in its seventh week. This is its fifth week in the top 10. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "Lighters" (featuring radio magnet Bruno Mars) jumps from #5 to #2. "Fastlane" jumps from #109 to #99.

Four albums drop out of the top 10 this week. 3 Doors Down's Time Of My Life drops from #3 to #13, DJ Khaled's We The Best Forever drops from #5 to #14, 311's Universal Pulse plummets from #8 to #44 and Selena Gomez & the Scene's When The Sun Goes Down drops from #10 to #12.

Falling In Reverse's The Drug In Me Is You bows at #19. The group is fronted by Ronnie Radke, formerly with Escape The Fate. Radke sang lead on that group's 2006 debut album, Dying Is Your Latest Fashion (which failed to crack The Billboard 200).

The soundtrack to the Disney Channel's Shake It Up: Break It Down dips from #36 to #37 in its third week. It's #1 on Top Soundtracks for the third straight week. Burlesque drops from #84 to #110 in its 35th week. Despite its low ranking, it's the #1 soundtrack to a theatrically-released movie for the sixth time. The album has sold a more than respectable 450K copies.

The Laurie Berkner Band's Party Day! is #1 on this week's Top Music Videos chart. The act, which specializes in children's songs, topped the music video chart for seven weeks in 2006 with We Are...The Laurie Berkner Band.

Cowboys & Aliens nosed out The Smurfs to finish #1 at the box-office over the weekend.

Coming Attractions: Trace Adkins' Proud To Be Here is expected to be next week's top new entry. Also due: O.A.R.'s King, Mat Kearney's Young Love, Greyson Chance's Hold On... and the soundtrack to TV's Victorious.

[Arabella21]

content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2011/08/scotty-mccreery-lauren-alaina-lead-idol-album-sales/1

21 Scotty McCreery “American Idol Season 10: Scotty McCreery EP” 16K (+13%; lw 14,347) Total: 102K (26)
89 Lauren Alaina “American Idol Season 10: Lauren Alaina EP” 5K (+9%; lw 4,654) Total: 47K (109)
94 David Cook “This Loud Morning” 5K (-22%; lw 6726) Total: 77K (73)
96 Haley Reinhart “American Idol Season 10: Haley Reinhart EP” 5K (-1%; lw 4,844) Total: 40K (103)
97 James Durbin “American Idol Season 10: James Durbin” 5K (-7%; lw 5,151) Total: 42K (95)
174 Jennifer Hudson “I Remember Me” 3K (+1%; lw 3,216) Total: 380K (165)
Mandisa “What If We Were Real” 2K (-12%; lw 2K) Total: 56K
Daughtry “Daughtry” 1K (+7%; lw 1K)

Idol Related:
5 Jason Aldean “My Kinda Party” 42K (-4%; lw 43,293) Total: ~1.619M (8)
Brad Paisley, This Is Country Music (14,000, -8%, 393,000) (#25 BB200)
Jennifer Lopez, Love? (5,000, -12%, 235,000) (#79 BB200)
Big Time Rush, BTR (5,000, -1%, 554,000) (#81 BB200)
Civil Wars, Barton Hollow (4,000, -3%, 151,000) (#119 BB200)
Aerosmith, Best of Aerosmith: The Millennium Collection (3,000, -6%, 313,000) (#181 BB200)

[Honeymoon]

Wow up 11% in album sales compared to this week last year. And we didn't even have that strong of a top 5 or so compared to last year's. This bodes very well for the rest of the year

[Enigma.]

"9. Joss Stone, LP1, 30,000. This new entry is Stone's third consecutive top 10 album. No songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. That can't be good."

He gets more and more hilarious each week, not necessarily good way. Since when Joss Stone solo singles and Hot digital songs have had anything to do with each other?

[maria4hitz]

www.roughstock.com/blog/eric-church-scores-first-1-of-career-with-chief

new 1 Eric Church Chief 144,990 145,013
8 4 Jason Aldean My Kinda Party 41,505 1,618,924
6 7 Blake Shelton Red River Blue 31,007 194,459
12 15 Chris Young Neon 18,961 117,266
25 20 Scotty McCreery American Idol/Highlights 16,208 102,168
21 22 Zac Brown Band You Get What You Give 15,486 1,090,069
19 23 Justin Moore Outlaws Like Me 15,310 170,160
23 24 Brad Paisley This Is Country Music 14,318 392,864
28 25 Taylor Swift Speak Now 14,146 3,576,797
36 31 The Band Perry The Band Perry 11,798 678,165
47 44 Lady Antebellum Need You Now 8,606 3,596,571
43 45 Various Now Country IV 8,464 102,125
49 49 Kenny Chesney Hemingway's Whiskey 8,125 899,742
53 57 Rascal Flatts Nothing Like This 7,107 925,847
70 61 Zac Brown Band The Foundation 6,563 2,685,020
50 62 Blake Shelton Loaded…Best of Blake… 6,518 368,607
76 67 Ronnie Dunn Ronnie Dunn 5,906 111,912
103 82 Lauren Alaina American Idol 10/Highlights 5,092 46,907
87 88 Sara Evans Stronger 4,887 258,737
110 98 Tim McGraw Number One Hits 4,380 406,507
123 111 Billy Currington Enjoy Yourself 4,103 356,901
135 129 Alison Krauss/Union Station Paper Airplane 3,558 259,855
139 138 Keith Urban Get Closer 3,396 621,816
145 140 Colt Ford Every Chance I Get 3,388 87,090
198 192 Jerrod Niemann Judge Jerrod/Hung Jury 2,508 335,317

[Caviar]

Go Joss!

[esoteric76]

Aug 3, 2011 10:51:31 GMT -5 HolidayGuy said:

9. Joss Stone, LP1, 30,000. This new entry is Stone's third consecutive top 10 album. No songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. That can't be good.

Considering that she's never really been a single's artist, and the only significant buzz surrounding the artist was a "totally out-there" murder plot a month ago, 30K for a indie release isn't bad. I would love to see her get a song on the radio, but even if it doesn't happen, the album is solid. I love this chick.

[David]

Up 2% now!!? Yesss!!

[areyoureadytojump]

Will the following albums be certified by the RIAA on tomorrow's chart?

Numbers are from the 8/06/11 chart:

Beyonce 551,654
Lady GaGa 1,622,219
Now 38 494,189
Eminem 3,961,941
Burlesque Soundtrack 445,642
Black Eyed Peas 732,967
Now 37 651,192
Lupe Fiasco 444,511
Justin Bieber 674,677
Foo Fighters GH 466,492
Cee Lo Green 402,470
Avenged Sevenfold 567,227
Rascal Flatts GH 108,9783

Albums only on the BB200 for 5+ weeks are listed and have sold over 400k.

[Mike]

Didn't you post today that "4" had been certified platinum?

[areyoureadytojump]

^Yes, but I usually wait to announce it in the BB200 thread when it shows up on the chart.

[David]

I hope P!nk is certified Platinum soon!

[areyoureadytojump]

From blackandblue:

BB200 - Top10

1 (NEW) Eric Church – Chief - 144,990 999% 23 145,013
2 (1) Adele – 21 - 82,549 7% 77,130 2,832,799
3 (NEW) Kelly Rowland – Here I Am - 76,857 999% 272 77,130
4 (9) AMY WINEHOUSE – BACK TO BLACK - 53,688 44% 37,332 2,387,016
5 (8) Jason Aldean – My Kinda Party - 41,505 -4% 43,293 1,618,924
6 (4) Beyonce – 4 - 41,018 -23% 53,468 592,672
7 (2) Kidz Bop Kids – Kidz Bop 20 - 38,651 -44% 68,717 107,416
8 (6) Blake Shelton – Red River Blue - 31,007 -34% 46,975 194,459
9 (NEW) Joss Stone – LP1 - 29,603 999% 146 29,749
10 (11) Bad Meets Evil - Hell: The Sequel - 25,993 -9% 28,463 395,952

[Mike]

Damn, Adele is going to pass 3 million in a matter of weeks. :o

[areyoureadytojump]

New RIAA certs:

Adele 3xp
Jackie Evancho Gold

New RIAA certs from the RIAA website:

Beyonce 1xp
Rascal Flatts, Nothing Like This 1xp

[Honeymoon]

I wouldn't be surprised if Jackie sails past Platinum over the holidays.

[Honeymoon]

I wonder how much Amy will fall next week, hopefully not outside the top 15 or so. The physical stores must be well stocked with her CDs now, which will hopefully help compensate for the digital sales quieting down.

[Deleted]

Whether it is itunes or a physical store, I don't think it will matter much. The death of Amy Warehouse is old news. It won't be too much longer before sales of these albums revert back to where they were a month ago.

[areyoureadytojump]

Other debuts:

18) Falling In Reverse – The Drug In Me Is You – 17,862
32) Hillsong Live – God Is Able – 11,779
38) Wu-Tang – Legendary Weapons – 9,983

[Honeymoon]

Aug 4, 2011 11:16:06 GMT -5 @2m said:

Whether it is itunes or a physical store, I don't think it will matter much. The death of Amy Warehouse is old news. It won't be too much longer before sales of these albums revert back to where they were a month ago.

I doubt it. Her sales will probably fall 50% next week and then from there it will be more gradual. Not to mention they've got a big tribute planned for the VMAs at the end of the month, that will give nice little boost as well. This album is not going away anytime soon.

[David]

I wouldn't be surprised to see a tribute at The Grammy's either.

[HolidayGuy]

SoundScan reprocessed its charts, and Back to Black actually is at No. 7, with 37,000. Frank remained at No. 33.

[Deleted]

Aug 4, 2011 12:18:41 GMT -5 Honeymoon said:

Aug 4, 2011 11:16:06 GMT -5 @2m said:

Whether it is itunes or a physical store, I don't think it will matter much. The death of Amy Warehouse is old news. It won't be too much longer before sales of these albums revert back to where they were a month ago.

I doubt it. Her sales will probably fall 50% next week and then from there it will be more gradual. Not to mention they've got a big tribute planned for the VMAs at the end of the month, that will give nice little boost as well. This album is not going away anytime soon.

We will see, if HITS projections holds, the drop will be greater than 50% and it will be outside the top 15

In my opinion, the further away we are from the news of the death, the fewer the albums sold

[Honeymoon]

Well, naturally, but I'm just saying I think the album will remain a consistent presence on the Billboard 200 for quite awhile, especially if we get that posthumous album before year's end.

And HITS has been unusually off the mark with her sales the past two weeks so I wouldn't be surprised if it surpasses their prediction again by making top 15.

[Deleted]

How Did Eric Church Get a No. 1 Album Without Any Hit Singles? Experts Weigh In

August 04, 2011
By Keith Caulfield (keith_caulfield), Wade Jessen and Deborah Evans-Price

It's fair to say that Eric Church's debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with "Chief" this week was a little surprising, based on his good-but-not great chart history.

The self-defined "bad boy" earned his first No. 1 album with his third set, which launched with a career-high sales week of 145,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In doing so, he became the first core country artist to have a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 without having had a No. 1 on the radio airplay-powered Hot Country Songs chart since back in 1994. That's when Tim McGraw's "Not a Moment Too Soon" album hit No. 1 a week before his single "Don't Take the Girl" reached the top of the country songs chart.

The achievement isn't lost on Church. "The numbers are unreal," he says. "People were looking at Kelly Rowland's [new album's] numbers. All of a sudden, we blow by everybody and people were asking, 'Who the hell is Eric Church and how did he sell this many records without No. 1 songs?' "

His having a No. 1 album without a No. 1 Country single is notable because radio airplay is the usual path to success for country acts. That's not to say that Church hasn't had radio hits, of course, but he hasn't had a blockbuster No. 1 single yet -- or even a top five hit -- which makes his No. 1 achievement all the more remarkable.

However, Capitol/EMI Nashville president Mike Dungan thinks too much is being made about the disparity between Church's radio track record and the big first-week album sales. He notes how his "spin-to-sale ratio is extremely high" -- meaning that when his songs are played, consumers react with their wallets.

"When people hear him, they are immediately interested," Dungan says. "There are a lot of No. 1 radio hits that are passive from a sales standpoint, but no one has ever accused Eric of making passive music. Listen to all three of his albums back-to-back and I think you'll agree that there isn't one artist working in this town who has made three records in a row that are this great."

Church admits "Chief" has exceeded his expectations. "We played a lot of shows and we've made other records that people regarded well enough that they were going to buy this record," he says. "There was excitement. I didn't know there was this kind of excitement. I don't tweet. I'm not a Facebook guy. I don't do any of those things. To have this kind of success the first week, it's about the music. [It is] really restoring my faith."

The North Carolina native has gone as high as No. 10 on the Country Songs chart twice, with "Love Your Love the Most" in 2009 and last year's "Hell on the Heart." The 34-year-old's latest single, "Homeboy," the lead track from "Chief," is backwards-bulleted (thus still gaining in airplay) at No. 15 on Hot Country Songs this week after earlier peaking at No. 13.

More incredibly, Church is the only core country artist to have a Billboard 200 No. 1 without having previously earned a top five single on Country Songs since way back in 1967. That's when Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe" topped the albums list on Oct. 14, 1967. Gentry's only top 10 single came later in 1970, when "All I Have to Do Is Dream" reached No. 6.

While Church doesn't have universal support across all of country radio, he does have vocal fans in the industry. "The [album's] sales just reflect what the fans already know," says Nate Deaton, general manager at Empire Broadcasting's KRTY in San Jose, Calif. "Since day one ... we have believed in Eric Church. 'Chief' is a great project. [It's] not a record of three singles and some filler, it is a great album with a start, middle and end."

"I think by and large country radio as a group has missed Eric Church," Deaton continues. "Whether it be bias against different-sounding material or just that programmers don't get the connection he has with fans, they are simply wrong."

LIVE, BABY, LIVE

So, if he didn't have a series of radio smashes on his side, how the heck did he wind up with the No. 1 album in the country? Touring. He's been steadily growing his fan base thanks to positive word-of-mouth and tireless road work since his "Sinners Like Me" album arrived in 2006. That set has sold 414,000 thus far.

"In the very beginning [with "Sinners"], we put him in an opening slot on a superstar tour," says Dungan, "and it ended up just not feeling right. We knew pretty quickly that it would be better to start outside and work our way in than the other way around. He started playing smaller venues, playing later at night to mostly male audiences, and the word of mouth took him from playing for 100 people a night to thousands, so he's worked his way up to where he is now out on the road-and it keeps building."

"He's been building the live show from day one and done it his own way," says Cindy Mabe, senior VP, marketing, Capitol Records Nashville. "He's taken rock clubs over, playing really late shows and building a base that's not the same base that we go after as a format overall. He's got 16-year-old boys that are huge fans. Nobody goes after that demographic."

"The first album, 'Sinners Like Me,' may not have been a radio favorite," says Deaton, "but anyone who has ever been to a Church show knows the impact it had. Watch the fans hold up their boots during 'These Boots,' or sing every word of 'Sinners Like Me' back to him and you'll see the impact the music has."

His last full-length, 2009's "Carolina," debuted and peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 with 31,000 sold in its first week. It has moved 496,000 total in the United States.

In its 123 weeks in release, it has sold at least 2,000-plus copies in every frame save for six. Additionally, his "Sinners" album picked up steam earlier this year when, after basically selling no more than 1,000 copies per week since the beginning of 2008, its sales lit up in late February. Not so coincidentally, that's when "Homeboy" was serviced to radio stations. Clearly, something resonated with fans, who wanted to hear more of Church and sought out his earlier work, thus prompting "Sinners'" sales spikes.

"There's a reason his first two albums are still selling," says Mabe. "He makes albums. He doesn't try to make songs for radio." She, like Dungan, points to his "spins-to-sales ratio" -- a clear indication of how his music is truly connecting with fans

[Enigma.]

Why do they publish this kind of article every time someone less known than Katy Perry tops the album chart?

I would've been more shocked if Kelly Rowland had done it.