Chris Stapleton’s “Traveller” Goes Gold, Continues #1 Streak

chris-stapleton-travellerChris Stapleton’s Traveller is now a gold record, or it will be shortly, as soon as the RIAA gets off its duff and officially declares it so. Thanks to a sales bump after being awarded four Grammy nominations, including for Album of the Year, Traveller sold an additional 43,700 copies last week—good enough for #1 in all of country yet again, and putting Stapleton over the 500,000 mark, officially landing at 513,700 albums sold. Even more crazy, Stapleton is projected to hit #1 yet again for this week, and sell even more albums than he did last week.

Stapleton has taken the momentum he scored from winning three CMA awards on November 4th, and hasn’t slowed down one bit. Last week, tickets went on sale for a two-show stint at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, and they sold out within minutes. So a third show was added, and it sold out within minutes as well. Stapleton’s almost assured a performance slot on the Grammy awards in February, and if he actually wins anything, he might blow out the ceiling for artists who actually write their own songs and bring an independent spirit to the mainstream. Meanwhile his radio single “Nobody To Blame” rose four spots on the latest airplay charts to finally crack the Top 25.

Just to attempt to put Stapleton’s continued run into perspective, here’s how Traveller‘s 513,700 album sales stack up against some big name competition. And remember, on it’s debut week, Chris Stapleton only sold 27,000 copies.

  • Blake Shelton – Bringing Back The Sunshine – 437,000 copies
  • Little Big Town – Painkiller – 403,000 copies
  • Dierks Bentley – Riser – 370,000 copies

And those three albums had a significant head start on Traveller since they were released in 2014, and also launched #1 singles to help support them with significant radio play. Stapleton is also easily beating:

  • Eric Church – Mr. Misunderstood – 217,000 copies
  • Thomas Rhett – Tangled Up – 200,000 copies
  • George Strait – Cold Beer Conversation – 187,000 copies
  • Tim McGraw – Damn Country Music – 73,000 copies

 

© 2023 Saving Country Music