On the Charts: Jason Aldean’s ‘They Don’t Know’ Ends Country’s Number One Drought
Jason Aldean scored his third straight Number One album on the Billboard 200 as his They Don’t Know sold 138,000 total copies to lock up the top spot. Aldean previously reached Number One with 2012’s Night Train and 2014’s Old Boots, New Dirt.
Remarkably, Aldean’s They Don’t Know is the first country album to top the Billboard 200 in 2016, and the first since Chris Stapleton’s monster night at the CMA Awards thrust his Traveller to Number One in November 2015. In fact, They Don’t Know is the first country LP to debut atop the charts in over a year, the last being Luke Bryan and Kill the Lights‘ first place finish in August 2015, Billboard reports.
The last time the country music world waited this long into a calendar year to score a Number One record: December 2001, when Garth Brooks’ Scarecrow ended country’s long chart-topping drought.
Aldean led the way for a handful of new releases as five newcomers entered into the Top 10: Bastille‘s Wild World placed at Number Four with 43,000 copies, followed by the Head and the Heart hitting career highs as Signs of Lights debuted at Number Five and 40,000 copies.
The Beatles‘ Live at the Hollywood Bowl gave the Fab Four their 32nd Top Ten album as it ended the week at Number Seven and 36,000 copies. Jack White‘s Acoustic Recordings: 1998 – 2016 compilation finished one spot behind the Beatles, taking Number Eight with 32,000 copies.
Of the returning LPs, Drake’s Views recaptured Number Two after a few weeks in the Number Three spot. The Suicide Squad soundtrack followed at Number Three. Last week’s Number One, Travis Scott’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, dropped to Number Eight. Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman (Number Nine) and Florida Georgia Line’s Dig Your Roots (Number 10) rounded out the Top 10.
Next week, Aldean will look to hold onto the top spot against new releases from Usher (Hard II Love), Mac Miller (The Divine Feminine), Aaron Lewis (Sinner) and Led Zeppelin (The Complete BBC Sessions).