American Aquarium Sees Career Best Debut for “Lamentations”

North Carolina-based alt-country band American Aquarium is celebrating a career best debut for their latest album Lamentations released on May 1st via New West Records after it appeared in numerous charts in the latest updates from Billboard.

With total equivalent sales of 7,682 albums, including 7,320 in pure album sales and over 400,000 streams of Lamentations songs, this puts the record at #2 in pure album sales in both the Country and Rock categories, and #1 in Americana/Folk. It also puts the album #7 in the all-genre Billboard Top Album Sales chart.

Factoring in streaming equivalents where the big mainstream names tend to dominate, Lamentations was still good enough to debut at #16 on Billboard Top Country Albums chart, and #17 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart. It also comes in at #2 on the Billboard Americana/Folk Album Chart.

Strong physical sales from American Aquarium’s fervent fan base is what allowed the band to compete with the top flight mainstream names despite the Coronavirus shutdown, underscoring the importance of supporting new releases during the pandemic. The band’s previous album, 2018’s Things Change debuted with 5,200 copies in pure album sales, meaning their sales increased by over 40% despite COVID-19, and the continued increasing prevalence of streaming in the marketplace.

The only album that sold more physical records in country music during the reporting period was Kenny Chesney’s Here and Now with his whopping 233,000+ album equivalents, and 222,000+ in physical sales bolstered by a massive concert ticket bundle. Despite Billboard’s recent efforts to diminish the impact of ticket bundles in charting performance, Chesney’s fan base and bundle option were big enough to put him #1 in all of music, irking some hip-hop fans who found Drake’s latest title relegated to #2 on the week.

The top rock album for the period was The Grateful Dead’s Dave’s Picks: Volume 34: Jai-Alai Fronton, Miami, FL – 06/23/74.

Lead by frontman and songwriter BJ Barham, American Aquarium’s Lamentations has also been a critical favorite, reeving many favorable reviews, including from Saving Country Music.

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