Two things have just been made official by Billboard:
Jason Aldean’s “Old Boots, New Dirt” is the #1 album on the weekly Billboard 200 sales chart.
With an opening week sales count of 278,000, “Old Boots, New Dirt” fell short of the inaugural mark delivered by Eric Church’s “The Outsiders” earlier this year.
Initially expected to move between 350,000 and 450,000 units, Aldean’s album ends up with a total 10,000 below that delivered by Church’s February 2014 release. It follows Blake Shelton’s “Bringing Back the Sunshine” as the second consecutive country album to hit #1 on the Billboard 200 despite falling considerably short of expectations.
Like Shelton’s album, it also endured a huge sales decline from its predecessor. Aldean’s previous album “Night Train” scored opened with 409,000 first-week copies in 2012.
Hozier’s self-titled album follows as the week’s #2 release with 58,000. That gives it the lead over Barbra Streisand’s “Partners” (#3, 49,000), Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga’s “Cheek to Cheek” (#4, 37,000), Weezer’s “Everything Will Be Alright in the End” (#5, 34,000) and Blake Shelton’s “Bringing Back the Sunshine” (#6, 34,000).
Stevie Nicks’ “24K Gold” opens at #7 with sales of 33,000, while Alex & Sierra’s “It’s About Us” launches at #8 with 27,000. Keyshia Cole’s “Point of No Return” (#9, 25,000) and Sam Smith’s “In the Lonely Hour” (#10, 24,000) round out the top ten.
