THIS CHART GOES
TO TOWN

Following the 53rd ACM Awards, Broken Bow/BMG’s Jason Aldean—who accepted his third consecutive Entertainer of the Year trophy—celebrates a #1 Top 50 Chart bow for Rearview Town, which crossed the finish line with more than 181k. Jon Loba and Zach Katz are already shopping for new boots.

A third of this week’s Top 15 belongs to new releases. Breaking Benjamin’s Ember (Hollywood) debuts at #3 with 121k and John Prine’s The Tree of Forgiveness (Oh Boy) comes in at #5 with 52k, while Pentatonix’s PTX Presents: Top Pop, Vol. 1 (RCA) appears at #7, Bazzi’s Cosmic (ZZZ) can be found at #13 and Smokepurpp’s Bless Yo Trap (Alamo/Interscope) arrives at #32.

TDE/Aftermath/Interscope’s Kendrick Lamar sees a spike, rising #21-14, as the Pulitzer music prize goes to DAMN., marking the first time the honor has been bestowed upon a hip-hop album. And thanks to even more ticket bundle redemptions, Metallica’s Hardwired… To Self-Destruct (Blackened) re-enters at #15.

But back to those ACMs. Powered by strong show looks, Kane Brown’s Kane Brown (RCA Nashville/Zone 4) leaps #27-19, and Chris Stapleton’s From A Room: Volume 1 (Mercury Nashville)—the Album of the Year winner—and Luke Bryan’s What Makes You Country (Capitol Nashville) re-enter at #35 and #36, respectively.

When it comes to overall marketshare, UMG is #1 with 42%, WMG follows with 41% and SME is #3 with 16%, while the indies claim 1%.

Streeting this week are albums from Dreamville/Roc Nation/Interscope’s J. Cole, BMG’s A Perfect Circle, EMI Nashville’s Brothers Osborne, Teleport/Island’s Bishop Briggs, Whispering Pines Studios/Republic’s Lord Huron, Columbia Nashville’s Old Crow Medicine Show and A&M/Interscope’s Sting & Shaggy.

For further information about upcoming releases, we suggest you follow Kanye West on Twitter, where you may also discover the meaning of life.