STAPLETON TRAVELING TO #1 AFTER CMA BREAKOUT

Forget everything you thought you knew about this week's charts, and welcome to the new era. Chris Stapleton’s Traveller (Mercury Nashville) is likely headed for #1 after his three big CMA wins and a star-making performance with Justin Timberlake. The album, released last May, now sits at #1 at iTunes, natch, while song "Tennessee Whiskey," which Stapleton performed with JT, has flown to #2, behind only the mighty Adele, and his title track is #6; JT's 20/20 track "Drink You Away," the other half of their boozy medley, is #3.

Traveller will sell more in one day than it had moved RTD.

Stapleton, winner of the CMA Best New Artist and Male Vocalist of the Year, sees his Album of the Year winner, Traveller, surge over 4000% in overnight sales. The album, not even among the Top 200 albums last week, is likely to re-enter the chart at #1. Traveller may best 100k when our album chart is finalized tomorrow.

A surprise release from Eric Church currently sits at #2. Church's Mr. Misunderstood (EMI Nashville) could provide one of two challenges to Stapleton for #1. At #3 is Carrie Underwood's Storyteller (19/Arista Nashville), which has been priced at $5.99 since earlier this week. She will seemingly have the physical advantage as retail struggles to get Church onto the sales floor today and Stapleton's six-month old release may not be stocked at sufficient levels.

Watch this space as our Building Album Chart reflects last night's impact. Other artists benefitting from last night's awards are Little Big Town (#7), Sam Hunt (#8), Miranda Lambert (#10) and Kenny Chesney (#11). Church's 2014 release, The Outsiders, is also among the Top 15 titles at iTunes this morning.