With David Nail’s The Sound of A Million Dreams being the major new release of the week, chances were good that one of the top albums from the past few weeks would remain or return to #1 on the chart and that’s exactly what happened when Scotty McCreery’s album returned to #1 and has officially scanned gold this week and looks to be well on his way to a Platinum album certification for Clear As Day, particularly with the album being one of many Doorbuster CDs on Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving in the USA).  Lady Antebellum’s Own The Night  has scanned past the 800k mark and is already certified platinum itself and the CD should have no problem getting to Platinum copies in fans actual hands (and not just in stores) by the time the holiday gift-giving season ends in early January. Miranda Lambert passed the 200,000 sold mark in just three weeks with Four The Record while Luke Bryan’s inching ever so closely to scanning Gold, with Tailgates &Tanlines, and like Scotty, he too looks like a shoo-in for a Platinum album certification in the near future. CMA Album of the Year winnier My Kinda Party  from Jason Aldean wraps up the Top 5 albums this week as he, too, has bypassed a sales mark recently as the album with “Tattoos On This Town,” “My Kinda Party” “Don’t You Wanna Stay” and “Dirt Road Anthem” is in the hands of over 2,000,000 fans.

Top 5 Country Albums for the Week of November 23, 2011

Note: Album sales #s are rounded to nearest thousand.

Red Solo Cup Helping sell “Clancy’s Tavern” Album for Toby Keith

Thanks to a viral hit in Red Solo Cup, Toby Keith has a lot to be thankful for this year as his latest album has two bonafide hits on it. Following Toby is the CMA and AMA award-winning The Band Perry who have an outside chance of getting past the 1,000,000 scanned mark this holiday season with their self-titled debut album (which features “All Your Life,” the triple platinum “If I Die Young,” and “You Lie”). David Nail debuts in the Top 10 of the SoundScan Top Country Albums chart this week with The Sound of A Million Dreams. The album sold 13,000 copies to give him a right to be happy about reaching fans as his lead single “Let It Rain” is a Top 10 hit on nearly all major country radio charts this week. Taylor Swift’s Speak Now continues to sell well while she just released the Speak Now: World Tour Live” CD/DVD set that is expected to bow at #1 on this chart next week. Eric Church rounds out the Top 10 this week with his third album Chief. It will most surely hit Gold in the next month and like Bryan and McCreery, it’s likely to end up a Platinum game-changer for Church’s career (and a good lead-in to his fantastic live show).

Top 10 Country Albums for the Week of November 23, 2011

Shelton, Paisley, & Strait Lead 5 Interesting albums this week

Blake Shelton has sold over 400,000 copies of Red River Blue as he gets ready to hit Gold himself (for this album and perhaps his Greatest Hits album) sometime in the next couple of months too. George Strait’s about halfway to a Gold Record but like McCreery, he has a Doorbuster this holiday shopping season with Here For A Good Time and look for him to get very close and eventually hit the Gold sales mark, a place which is already achieved for Paisley’s This Is Country Music. Lauren Alaina’s “Wildflower” has now sold 145,000 copies as her fun new single “Georgia Peaches” stars its ascent up the charts.  Vince Gill’s Guitar Slinger has now sold over 43,000 albums and while it’s likely to not end up a Gold album, it’s one of the best releases of 2011.

Five Interesting albums on the SoundScan Country Albums Chart

A Few More Interesting Facts This week:

• Lauren Alaina has sold over 145,000 albums, thus giving her nearly more albums sold than Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox’s albums from last year, remarkable and further proof that country records still sell.
• The Pistol Annies have now sold 160,000 copies of Hell On Heels, an album that’s all but guaranteed a slot in our Top 10 albums of the year list.
• Brantley Gilbert has now sold over 300,000 copies of Halfway to Heaven about ½ of those before he ever released a single for Valory Music Co. He has the #1 song in America this week with “Country Must Be Country Wide,” giving Colt Ford his second #1 hit on the charts as a writer this year (joining Gilbert as they wrote “Dirt Road Anthem).
• Hunter Hayes is over 40,000 copies sold for his self-titled debut but his career is just getting started and we expect the record to eventually rise up the charts and sell remarkably well over the next year.
• The Civil Wars have now sold over 211,000 copies of future Grammy nominee Barton Hollow.

Well, there you have it folks, our rundown of the charts this week, a rundown that doesn’t show much movement thanks to little new product and a couple weeks between the CMA Awards and Holiday sales.