Taylor Swift today achieved something no other artist has achieved this decade. Her self-titled debut album for Big Machine Records broke a record on the billboard charts for most time spent on it.  She also achieved milestones on iTunes with her new follow-up "platinum" set.

With a remarkable 171,000 copies sold, Keith Urban scored the first Billboard SoundScan Hot 200 Chart #1 with his latest release "Defying Gravity." Other albums debuting on the chart include Rodney Atkins with his latest album "It's America." 

Outside of talk stations, country music is the radio format with the most stations dedicated to it.  Country radio charts (which determine what a number one hit is) are split up into two levels: Major markets and everybody else.  Is this right?  Is it another example of corporate consolidation gone awry? Is it good for the country music industry?

Something interesting happens when taking a look at the various country music charts. While most people take "Billboard" as the gospel and 'taste maker' for chart 'supremacy' the chart often doesn't take into accout many of the stations which play country music. One chart, Music Row Magazine's "Country Breakout" chart does and the charts are often different. Why?

This week Taylor Swift has seen her debut record return to the top of Billboard's "Top Country Albums" chart, in it's 84th week of release while Brad Paisley remains atop the singles chart with his latest single.