The Holidays have been good to the music industry once again as most albums on the Nielsen SoundScan Hot 200 Albums are either new releases or experienced healthy sales gains.  It’s a case that shows that the holiday season is great for giving people a reason to shop and with gift cards and download cards getting used after the holiday season next week, look for the sales numbers to be steady for at least another week or two.  Leading the way once again this week, making it a solid month, is Susan Boyle with her I Dreamed A Dream CD.  The album has sold over 2.5 million copies in that short time-span is most definitely the winner of 2009’s “best-selling album of the holiday season” and could overtake Taylor Swift for “Best-selling album in 2009.”  It’s already 2009’s best selling release (Swift’s was released in 2008).

As for country music-related releases, Taylor Swift’s Fearless once again has sold remarkably well as the album has now crossed the 5 million threshold to give her a remarkable feat of having now sold nearly 10 million albums since debuting in 2007 with her self-titled debut.  Carrie Underwood came out in 2005 and her career sales rival that of Taylor’s, particularly with her third album Play On ever so close to the platinum sales plateau (scanned units, not shipped units).  Lady Antebellum continues a remarkable run back up the charts and are the 16^th best-selling album on the Hot 200 Albums chart this week as stores scanned 82,000 more copies of a two-year old album.    Tim McGraw will pass the 500k albums sold mark next week as people really are still searching for a Southern Voice while the Zac Brown Band continues to build their Foundation on country music and not pop or 70s southern rock.  Their album is this week’s fifth best-selling record.  The group has a new video out for “Highway 20 Ride.”

The world remains Wide Open for Jason Aldean as he sits in the 6th of the Hot Country Albums chart this week.  The album is nearing 900,000 albums scanned.  Darius Rucker’s wisdom-filled album Learn To Live proves that fans will take to a ‘mature’ ‘new’ artist as the album is nearing the 1.2 million copies sold mark.  Taylor Swift’s Self-titled record continues to sell units while the Hannah Montana Movie Soundtrack continues to find its way into stockings and packages under the tree and is inching itself close to the 1.8 million albums-sold mark.  Sugarland’s holiday album must’ve reached enough hands two weeks ago as it moves down the charts for a second week to 10^th on this week’s Hot Country Albums chart.  It has now moved 230,000 copies. 

Miranda Lambert has her second Top 10 hit this week with “White Liar” and the album has now crossed the 300,000 copies-sold mark.  Reba plans to Keep On Loving her fans as Keep On Loving You sits in twelfth place this week on the Hot Country Albums chart this week as she scores her 34^th #1 hit with “Consider Me Gone.”  Brad Paisley continues to march up the charts as American Saturday Night finds its way under the tree, a place Rascal Flatts finds their Unstoppable album landing as well. 

Toby Keith’s American Ride sits at 16 on the Hot Country Albums chart and is followed by Sugarland’s nearly double-platinum Love on the Inside.  George Strait keeps Twangin’ his way this holiday season and is nearing 500,000 copies sold for the album.  Keith Urban’s Defying Gravity may have ‘dropped’ on the Hot Country Albums chart this week but it still gained a sales increase and is nearing 700,000 copies sold.  Kenny Chesney’s Greatest Hits II is now a Gold-selling album and it has moved its way inside both the Top 100 of the Hot 200 and the Top 20 of the Hot Country Albums chart.  Chesney just released the theme song for the college football season on ESPN this week, “This Is Our Time” to iTunes and Amazon.

On the interesting section of the chart, we find Luke Bryan’s Doin’ My Thing up 8 spots on the Hot 200 Albums chart with the album nearing the 200,000 copies-sold mark.  Chris Young’s Man I Want To Be moved over 12,000 copies this week to get the artist near the 160,000 copies-sold plateau.  Phil Vassar debuts at 147 on this week’s Hot 200 Albums chart with Traveling Circus.  It sold nearly 9,000 copies.  Justin Moore’s self-titled debut is currently sitting in the backwoods of the chart as it moves over the 160,000 albums-sold mark.  Rounding out this week’s roundup is Kellie Pickler’s self-titled sophomore album.  It has now sold over 360,000 copies.