CHART FINAL: A MUSIC CITY MOMENT
Country albums occupy three of the top five spots on this week’s HITS Top 50 chart, with Taylor Swift’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (Republic) leading the way. Swift’s re-recorded set moves to #2 its second week, posting 60k following the year’s biggest debut week to date. Morgan Wallen (Big Loud/Republic) holds firm at #3.
EMI Nashville’s Eric Church opens at #5 with Heart, the first installment of his new trilogy. It’s the week’s second-biggest debut, trailing only Young Thug & Gunna’s Slime Language II, which bows at #1. Lava/Republic rock troupe Greta Van Fleet debuts at #8 with The Battle at Garden’s Gate.
Following the prior week’s ACM Awards, a handful of performers and winners got a boost; Luke Combs led the pack with What You See Is What You Get (River House/Columbia Nashville), +11% (#12), while his This One’s for You moved into the Top 30; Carrie Underwood’s My Savior (Capitol Nashville) jumped back into the Top 25, up 13%; and Chris Stapleton’s Starting Over (Mercury Nashville) increased 23%, goosed by his performance of tearjerker “Maggie’s Song” with Miranda Lambert.
Latin superstar Bad Bunny makes the biggest leap of the week with El Último Tour del Mundo (Rimas), which is up 33% and soared to #13 following an appearance at Wrestlemania and the rapid selling-out of his tour.
Streeting this week are projects from N-Less/Interscope’s Moneybagg Yo, QC/Motown’s Lil Yachty, Warner’s Myke Towers, Mom+Pop’s Porter Robinson and part two of Church’s Heart & Soul.
In unrelated news, we can’t decide if this punishing fatigue and nausea are due to our second vax shot or just the week’s proofreading.
