Last week may have been one of the biggest non-holiday weeks of the sales year (it’s the last one before holiday sales buying really kicks in) and while Country music doesn’t hold one of the Top 5 spots, a country-friendly artist does in Kid Rock who debuts this week with his first album of his 15 year career to not include a parental advisory sticker.  Born Free sold nearly 189,000 copies this week (and he probably would’ve sold even more had the album been available on iTunes – it is on Amazon.com).  Rascal Flatts last album Unstoppable debuted at #1 with over 300,000 copies sold so it’s gotta be a little ‘disheartening’ to the trio to see their Big Machine Records debut Nothing Like This come in at 165,000 copies sold its first week out.  That was good enough to lead the country tally this week with a #6 overall slot on the SoundScan Hot 200 Albums chart. Keith Urban’s latest album Get Closer sold nearly 162,000 copies its first week out which is lower than his first week tally for Defying Gravity as well.  Perhaps these pair of artists, which gotta have cross-over fans, could’ve sold more if not debuting their albums the same week.  Taylor Swift’s juggernaut Speak Now continues to sell briskly but the three weeks since the million-selling debut week hasn’t equaled that week as she’s now sold ‘just’ 1.7 million copies.  Jason Aldean’s My Kinda Party slides to the #4 slot on this country tally with a total of over 331,000 copies sold in three weeks on the chart.  Sugarland’s The Incredible Machine rounds out the country Top 5 this week as they are inching closer to Gold as the album hits 460,190 copies scanned in four weeks on the charts. Note: clcik on any album title in chart to read a review (if available).

Lady Antebellum has both the #6 and #7 slots on the Hot Country Albums rundown this week with their Target-exclusive holiday release Merry Little Christmas sliding past the 100,000 sales mark and it’s not outta the realm of possibility for the EP to get past 500,000 sold by the end of the year.  The trio’s Need You Now remains the best-selling country album of the year (second overall behind Eminem’s 3 million seller Recovery) with over 2.8 million copies now on the market.  Reba McEntire’s All The Woman I Am slides from the Top 5 to #8 on our rundown this week as the album has now sold over 90,000 copies in those two weeks on the charts, just as “Turn On The Radio” hits Top 10.  Kenny Chesney’s Hemingway’s Whiskey has now sold over 412,000 copies and it most definitely will slide past the Gold sales mark this holiday season, the same which can be said for our #10 album this week, Zac Brown Band’s You Get What You Give. 

The eleventh best-selling album country album on the SoundScan Hot 200 Albums chart this week is The Band Perry’s self-titled debut album.  The trio is the best-selling new country act this week with a total sales number nearing 170,000.  Miranda Lambert’s Revoluton has now sold nearly 970,000 copies and it’s a given that it will scan platinum sometime in the next two weeks while her fiancé Blake Shelton’s first best-of collection (it doesn’t feature any previously un-released material), Loaded: The Best of Blake Shelton has sold over 40,000 copies in two weeks and will probably be a solid seller this holiday season.  Darius Rucker’s Charleston, SC 1966 has now sold nearly 230,000 copies since being released six weeks ago. Brad Paisley has the fifteenth best-selling country record this week with his Hits Alive dual disc compilation.  The set has now sold over 71,000 copies. 

The Zac Brown Band’s Foundation sits at #16 this week on our country albums rundown with nearly another 13,000 fans picking up the disc, giving the CMA Best New Artist winners a sales number that is now close to 2.4 million sold in over two years on the charts.  55 weeks into its sales run, Carrie Underwood’s third album Play On now has a sales total over 1.8 million copies.  Taylor Swift’s Fearless is over two years old (it was released one week before the Zac Brown Band’s album above) and has sold nearly 6.1 million copies in that time, while winning virtually every ‘best album’ award possible.  Toby Keith’s latest Show Dog-Universal Records album Bullets in the Gun has now sold over 177,000 copies in seven weeks on the charts.  Rounding out the Top 20 this week is the Loretta Lynn Tribute album Coal Miner’s Daughter.  It has now sold over 21,000 copies in two weeks.  This gives country music 20 of the top 75, which is roughly 27% of them.

Billy Currington’s Enjoy Yourself is the 21st best-selling country album this week and now has sold nearly 140,000 copies while Jamey Johnson’s The Guitar Song has now sold nearly 190,000 copies as it becomes the 22nd best-seller this week.  Eric Church’s Carolina is one of the few albums to sell more copies this week than last week on this country album rundown and it now has sold nearly 315,000 copies.  Jerrod Nemann has the #24 album of the week with Judge Jerrod and the Hung Jury which has sold nearly 170,000 copies since being released this past July.  Blake Shelton’s All About Tonight rounds out the Top 25 this week. 

The various artist compilation Now That’s What I Call Country Music is next with over 70,000 fans still finding a need for such a thing while the last full-length studio album from Brad Paisley, American Saturday Night has now sold nearly 680,000 copies in 1.5 years on the charts.  Lady Antebellum’s debut album has now sold 1.7 albums in over 2.5 years on the chart while Dierks Bentley’s Up On The Ridge has now sold nearly 180,000 since being released this summer.  Rounding out the Top 30 this week is George Strait’s year-old Twang.  Over 630,000 fans have now picked up their own copy of the legend’s most recent album.

The only new release of note next week is Alan Jackson’s 34 Number Ones collection.  Check back to see how it fares during black-Friday sales week bonanza.  This week has traditionally helped album sales enjoy healthy sales gains so it will be interesting to see how it helps the albums on this rundown.  For those of you in the USA , Happy Thanksgiving!