Staplelake [ABC]
Thanks primarily to the monstrous sales total it posted during the official tracking week (131,206), Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey” takes #1 on this week’s Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
Re-entering for the first time since its lone May 2015 appearance (at #46), “Tennessee Whiskey” seizes the top spot from Thomas Rhett’s “Die A Happy Man.” The Rhett tune slips to #2 on this week’s all-encompassing chart.
In conjunction with its #1 Hot Country Songs position, “Whiskey” grabs #1 on Country Digital Songs and #14 on Country Streaming Songs. The near-entirety of the song’s tracked sales and streaming activity came in the ~27 hours after Stapleton’s performance at the November 4 CMA Awards.
Sam Hunt, whom Stapleton topped for New Artist of the Year at the CMA, returns to the Top 5 this week. The singer-songwriter’s current single “Break Up In A Small Town” rises four places to #3 on Hot Country Songs.
Luke Bryan’s “Strip It Down” (#4, -2) and Chris Young’s “I’m Comin’ Over” (#5, -1) complete the all-encompassing chart’s Top 5.