In what can only be hailed as a surprise, independent country star Lucas Hoge has ascended to the #1 position on the Country Albums Sales Chart this week (this is for pure album sales). Lucas has now sold 17,000 in two weeks with nearly 10k copies of Dirty South being sold this past week. Chris Stapleton has the #2 and #3 slots with From A Room and Traveller, respectively. At #4 is Now Country 10 while Lady Antebellum's Heart Break holds on in this rundown as it has scanned over 109k copies to date to round out the Top 5 (and has remained here all 8 weeks of release).
Top Ten Recap
Joe Nichols debuts at #6 with his album Never Gets Old. The second release from his record label deal with RedBow Records, Never Gets Old finds Nichols blending all the sounds and styles he's perfected in a career reaching twenty years on the scene. Luke Combs' This One's For You sits at #7 with sales now over 80k strong to date (The album features the #1 "Hurricane" and fast rising hit "When It Rains It Pours"). Keith Urban sits at #8 with Ripcord. The album has scanned over 635k to date while Brett Young's self-titled BMLG Records debut has scanned nearly 115k to date. Rounding out the Top 10 is Rascal Flatts' Back To Us. The album has scanned 55k to date.
Notables
Zac Brow Band's Welcome Home (a former #1 album), sits at #11 while Sara Evans' Words, a record we proclaimed the best of her career, sits at #12 after debuting at #2 last week. Miranda Lambert has a Platinum certification for The Weight of These Wings yet the album has scanned 376k to date. That means she's had a heavy streaming presence for the risk-taking double album, her first for Vanner Records, her new RCA Nashville imprint (word is her next project will be the third Pistol Annies album). Logan Mize's third album Come Back Road debuts with 1.6k scanned while we also feature the late Glen Campbell's Adios, a record most-certainly primed to break the Top 10 again after his passing yesterday. Other notables include Parmalee's 27861, Something's Going On from Trace Adkins, Rhonda Vincent and Daryle Singletary's American Grandstand and Raelynn's Wildhore. we also track down the latest from stars like Dierks, Brad, Garth, Kenny, Eric, Little Big Town, Cole and Colt. Indie stars like Margo Price, The Lacs and Aaron Watson also get tracked in this week's notable section of the charts (linked below)
Top 5 Country Albums: August 7, 2017
Note: The Top 5 Country Album Chart Numbers are rounded to nearest hundred albums sold.
| Place | Artist | Album | Week | Total Scans |
| 1 | Lucas Hoge | Dirty South | 9,900 | 17,000 |
| 2 | Chris Stapleton | From A Room: Volume 1 | 9,200 | 474,300 |
| 3 | Chris Stapleton | Traveller | 6,500 | 2,030,000 |
| 4 | Various Artists | Now Country 10 | 6,100 | 76,400 |
| 5 | Lady Antebellum | Heart Break | 5,400 | 109,300 |
Dixie M Barnes
I first met Lucas Hoge at a tiny country-western music festival in Clifton, Ks where he sang in a contest with his dad. I fell in love with his style, his relaxed but mellow singing voice, and his good looks. He was still a teenager at that time. I had a table there which held some of the paintings I was selling, and he came over and told me he envied my artistic talent. I told him I wished I could sing like him. I've been following his career every since. Awesome job, Lucas! Congratulations! I'm sure this is just the first of many wins for you.