Miranda Lambert’s “Wings” Sees Huge Sales Spike, Hits #1 After ACM Awards

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Don’t let anyone ever tell you that awards shows don’t matter, and neither does turning in memorable performances. Miranda Lambert’s latest record The Weight of These Wings was just sort of meandering after its initial release in November of 2016, with the lead single “Vice” stalling outside the Top 10 on country radio, and the second single “We Should Be Friends” faring even worse. Though the double album received generally strong critical reviews, as we’ve seen over and over in country music, that doesn’t always result in sales or attention from the wide public.

But Miranda did what any artist with a somewhat lagging album hopes to do with the opportunity an awards show can present, which is press a big reset button. Giving up on her current single “We Should Be Friends,” Miranda Lambert debuted “Tin Man” on the ACM Awards as the album’s next offering to radio, and she turned in one of the very few memorable performances on the otherwise paltry presentation when she performed the song acoustically, and without accompaniment. “Tin Man” was co-written by Lambert with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall.

What were the results? Helped along by The Weight of These Wings winning Album of the Year, and Miranda walking away with Female Vocalist of the Year, Lambert saw the biggest sales spike of all performers or nominees on the night, and it’s not even close.

The Weight of These Wings went from a paltry #35 on the Billboard Country Albums chart all the way back to #1 this week with equivalent album sales of 31,000 units, which is an increase of 663% from before the April 2nd ACM’s. According to Forbes, Miranda saw an immediate sales spike after the awards of a whopping 12,215% for “Tin Man.” The next closest song spike was Reba McEntire’s “Back To God,” which registered a 1,172% increase.

Releasing a double album can be a risk for an artist, especially when they seem to focus more on creative expression as opposed to commercial prospects like Miranda Lambert did with The Weight of These Wings. Along with contributing much of the writing herself, the album also features writing from songwriter and performer Brent Cobb, second generation country music Outlaw Waylon Payne, Texas songwriter (and once regular Miranda tour mate) Adam Hood, Texas songwriting legend Shake Russell, Miranda boyfriend Anderson East, Jack Ingram, Ashley Monroe, Mando Saenz, and Jon Randall among others. All of these contributors also benefit from the Miranda sales spike.

Perhaps the ACM’s were just what Miranda Lambert needed to put new wind behind The Weight of These Wings.

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