With another 50,000 copies sold, Brad Paisley’s newest album This Is Country Music remains the best-selling country album on the charts. Meanwhile, over on the singles chart Keith Urban’s “Without You” hits #1 this week. The rest of the Hot 200 Albums chart has basically the same country albums save for one re-entry that finds its way back onto the chart thanks to a hit single (featured on the album but released by a newer record label), but more on that later. The second country album on the chart this week’s rundown is Jason Aldean’s My Kinda Party which is continuing to sell better week over week thanks to a hit single like “Dirt Road Anthem,” a song that people seem to either love or loathe.  If sales hold true, the album will pass the 1.3 scanned mark next week. Zac Brown Band’s You Get What You Give is the #3 country album this week continuing the band’s rise back up the charts with nearly 16,000 more copies sold this week bringing the award-winning group closer to 1,000,000 copies scanned.  Taylor Swift returns to the Top 5 with Speak Now, her third album. It has now sold over 3.45 million copies while “Mean” looks like a sure-bet to hit #1 in the next few weeks. Rascal Flatts’ Nothing Like This has now sold 854,000 copies and the group, which are on another successful concert tour, are getting ready to release the duet “Easy.” It features pop star Natasha Bedingfield. 

The Band Perry kick off the second half of this week’s 10 best selling country albums on SoundScan’s Hot 200 (current) albums chart. They sold over 10,500 copies again this week as “You Lie” sits right behind BMLG sister act Taylor Swift at #5 on the singles chart. Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now sits right behind TBP as they look towards the September release of their follow-up album (which will likely be on the second single at the time of release, just like Need You Now was). Alison Krauss and Union Station’s Paper Airplane is next and the album has sold over 215,000 copies, a strong figure for a bluegrass group and not too far out of line with Krauss and companies’ past records.  Sara Evans’ Stronger sits at #9 on the rundown this week with the album now officially scanning more than 207,000 copies.  She is getting ready to release “My Heart Can’t Tell You No” to radio. Scotty McCreery’s American Idol 10:Scotty McCreery continues to sell well, giving the show’s winner another 8,000 fans of the iTunes compilation of Scotty’s biggest Idol hits. He also has moved inside the Top 30 on the charts this week with “I Love You This Much,” which tells me that, even with a so-so single, the singer is too big of an artist (already) to not garner attention from country radio, despite what many programmers originally said about him.

Blake Shelton continues to score with country fans and non country fans alike as one of the most charming ‘coaches’ on NBC’s The Voice. He’s now sold 280,000-plus of greatest hits compilation Loaded…The Best of Blake Shelton.  He’s soon going to hit #1 on the singles chart with “Honey Bee,” the lead single from the upcoming WBR album Red River Blue.  Kenny Chesney’s Hemingway’s Whiskey has gained a strong rebound this week to return to the Top 15 of this SoundScan rundown for the best current country albums rundown. He has now sold over 830,000 copies of the album featuring the hits “The Boys of Fall,” “Somewhere With You,” “Live A Little” and current hit “You and Tequila.”  The Foundation continues to be strong for Zac Brown Band as they sell another 6,400 copies of the 2008 release, making it the oldest album on this chart rundown (outside maybe Lady Gaga’s The Fame). Colt Ford’s Every Chance I Get found nearly another 6,300 fans giving him a total of 52,000 copies scanned in about a month on the charts, a strong showing for the artist without much, if any major radio exposure as of yet. The soundtrack to the popular film Country Strong has now sold over 285,000 copies (and features Sara Evans #1 hit “A Little Bit Stronger”).

Tim McGraw starts off the final quarter of our Top 20 Country Albums rundown (as featured on SoundScan’s Hot 200 Albums chart). Number One Hits has now sold over 367,000 copies and is well on its way to becoming another platinum recording for Tim McGraw, even as he goes through a tough lawsuit with Curb Records.  Miranda Lambert’s Revolution is next on the charts with now over 1.325 million copies sold.  Aaron Lewis’ R&J Records album Town Line is next and has now sold nearly 160,000 copies as “Country Boy” continues to move around the charts.  Sugarland’s “Tonight” continues to run up the charts as the band’s latest LP, The Incredible Machine is oh so close to scanning 1,000,000 copies (it sits at 998,268 this week). Thompson Square’s self-titled debut has now sold over 175,000 copies thanks to #1 hit “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not” and fast-rising Top 40 single “I Got You.” 

Our interesting albums section starts off with Enjoy Yourself from Billy Currington having passed the 325,000 sales mark this week as he moves the insanely catchy “Love Done Gone” up the charts. With “Homeboy” and a new album almost here, Eric Church continues to sell copies of Carolina. The album has now sold over 467,000 copies. Lauren Alaina’s American Idol 10: Lauren Alaina has now sold 13,000 copies as her single “Like My Mother Does” moves up the radio singles charts where it sits at #43 this week.  Keith Urban has the #1 single in the country with the Dave Pahanish/Joe West-penned #1 hit “Without You.”  He now has sold nearly 600,000 copies of Get Closer. Brantley Gilbert is the previously mentioned chart re-entrant this week with Halfway To Heaven benefiting from his new single “Country Must Be Country Wide” getting hit exposure.  The album has sold nearly 120,000 copies, over 110,000 of ‘em without anybody outside of the southeast really knowing who Brantley Gilbert was (if they don’t read Roughstock that is). 

Next Week Ronnie Dunn enters the chart with his long-awaited solo album. Find out where he and the Anniversary album from Randy Travis land on the chart, right here next week.