Tyler Childers & ‘Purgatory’ On a Huge Run, Breaks Sales Barrier
Every few years or so, an album in country music will emerge whose influence is so rich, its success so undeniable, and its relevancy and appeal so universal, it can’t be held back, and it ends up getting stuck in both the album charts, and in people’s listening rotations to the point where it is perennial, and its importance is undeniable. Purgatory by Tyler Childers released now three years ago last week is one of those records.
This is not to overlook or diminish the more recent Tyler Childers record Country Squire, which is also doing well. But it’s nowhere near the level of Purgatory, and it’s not even really close. And what also makes this case so unusual is Tyler Childers doesn’t see any significant mainstream radio play. He didn’t get a big boost from an awards show like Chris Stapleton and his debut record Traveller, which is also one of these once-in-a-lifetime records that isn’t going away. Tyler Childers isn’t even touring right now, or even making any appearances on late night talk shows, or doing live streams from the couch. Purgatory just sells.
Just this last week, the three-year-old Purgatory sold an equivalent 8,000 copies, and the individual songs from the record were streamed 8.2 million times. That’s good enough to put it at #12 on the Billboard Country Albums chart, while in comes in at #5 in physical sales/downloads. To put that in perspective, that is a better performance than the most recent records from mainstream names such as Jason Aldean, Kane Brown, Florida Georgia Line, Miranda Lambert, Dan + Shay, Thomas Rhett, and others, all of which were released much more recently than Purgatory, and that includes factoring in streaming of big radio hits.
For years we’ve been seeing independent artists upstage the country charts on their debut weeks—folks like Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Aaron Watson, Whiskey Myers, Blackberry Smoke, and Tyler Childers with Country Squire which debuted at #1 when it was released in August of 2019 as well. And no offense to these albums and artists at all with this accomplishment. But often the next week, these album fall like a rock, propped up by presales and critical buzz, but ultimately unable to compete on a weekly basis with the mainstream for obvious reasons.
But this is what makes the Purgatory run so unprecedented. In fact, its performance only continues to improve. It has been drifting in and out of the Top 20 for a while now. But recently, it’s been drifting slowly upward. The previous week (7-30 chart) it was at #16 with 7,500 in equivalent sales, and 8 million song streams. The week before that (7-23 chart), it was at #16 with 7,300 in equivalent sales, and 7.8 million songs streams. The week before that (7-16 chart) it was at #18 with 7,100 in album equivalents, and 7.5 million streams. In other words, Tyler Childers has been trending up over the last month, and with no real catalyst aside for the appeal of the music.
Meanwhile where does Country Squire fit, just for context? Last week the record was at #77, with 3,200 in equivalent sales, and 3.1 million song streams, so less than half of what Purgatory is doing. Hey, this is not a knock on Country Squire. That’s still a satisfactory performance for a non mainstream artist. Jason Isbell’s new 2020 album Reunions which debuted at #1 has dropped out of the Top 100 entirely, and did shortly after its release. It’s Purgatory‘s performance that is exceptional, and seems to be putting it on a path to becoming one of those records that goes on to define the sound of a generation.
And in another sign of the success of Purgatory, two weeks ago the album reached the symbolic plateau of crossing over into sales of half a million. It’s at 518,972 albums and streaming equivalents at the moment to be exact. That means it will be Certified Gold shortly, and is headed to being Certified Platinum, after the song “Feathered Indians” already went Gold in February.
The next question is, where does Purgatory go from here? There’s sure to be bumps in the road, and the higher you climb in charts, the harder it is to gain ground and maintain it. But as we have seen with Chris Stapleton’s Traveller, when you have a record like this, sometimes there is no time limit, or shelf life. Tyler Childers and Purgatory are very much saving country music in real time, and there’s no sign of it slowing down anytime soon.
hoptowntiger94
August 16, 2020 @ 11:03 am
I think it’s the Yellowstone bump. (I think) 3 songs from Purgatory have been featured this season
“Lady May” and Zach Bryan’s “Condemned” had the big musical moments so far this season.
I’ll look up how many songs from Purgatory have been featured.
Trigger
August 16, 2020 @ 11:07 am
This current run started way before the new season of Yellowstone, but it’s probably not hurting. He was featured in Episode #2 “Lady May”, and Episode #7 “Born Again” by my count. Both “Purgatory” songs.
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/yellowstone-season-3-renews-commitment-to-cool-music/
hoptowntiger94
August 16, 2020 @ 11:15 am
Yeah. I thought there was a third too, but can’t fins it. The” Lady May” scene was probably the most talked about all season to date.
Songs from Strugill’s Metamodern have been prominently featured too. Has there been a bump on that album out of curiosity?
hoptowntiger94
August 16, 2020 @ 11:18 am
Sturgill’s had 3 (Turtles, Life of Sin, White Lines) prominently featured so far.
Raw Hide
August 18, 2020 @ 8:41 am
Nose on the Grindstone was also featured in the intro to a season 2 episode
bwh
August 16, 2020 @ 11:17 am
Purgatory is an all time album, and night and day better than his latest. Too much Sturgill and not enough Childers.
Jason Sams
August 16, 2020 @ 3:51 pm
I’d like to see Dave Cobb produce Tyler Childers… He sounded great on Fraulein with Colter Wall.
Big Cat
August 16, 2020 @ 4:51 pm
Sturgill produced Purgatory; not sure I follow
Moe Blandy
August 16, 2020 @ 6:57 pm
Shhhh, he’s on a roll.
Erikstein
August 16, 2020 @ 11:30 am
I think it’s similar to what launched the successful Folk/roots movement that saw bands like Mumford & Sons or the Lumineers at the top of the charts a while back.The more cheesy & superficial popular music gets,the more an artist like Tyler is noticed and appreciated for being genuine .If only this happened more frequently we would be set.But,what would Florida Georgia line,& Luke Bryan do??
John R Baker
August 16, 2020 @ 11:42 am
I wonder if it’s possible to quantify how much YouTube has contributed to this. The Our Vinyl Sessions version of “Whitehouse Road” has 28 million views. It has seemed like “Nose To the Grindstone” is second to that as his best known song though he never put it an an album. That follows as second on YouTube with 18 million views. Anecdotally speaking it has seemed to me that people hear those songs, like them, and singers often cover “Grindstone” in particular. But when people get to “Feathered Indians” which has 17 million views they tend to become real fans.
Jake Cutter
August 16, 2020 @ 2:39 pm
This is good to see, and I’m happy for him. Hopefully it won’t be his last on, or near that level of quality. Your comparisons for context were interesting. I’m curious how Isbell’s latest stacks up with his last few. Does Southeastern still sell decently, relatively speaking?
hoptowntiger94
August 16, 2020 @ 3:34 pm
One could argue his best songs haven’t been recorded to a proper album… Charleston Girl, Shake the Frost, and Hounds to Heaven.
Jake Cutter
August 16, 2020 @ 4:39 pm
Maybe….not sure they have the same appeal as Feathered Indians and Whitehouse Rd….but you could argue they are up there. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to hear those recorded well, but I think it’s going to take more than that to match Purgatory’s 10 great to excellent songs.
Rob Childers
August 16, 2020 @ 5:24 pm
My fav is hounds to heaven
Toddxolsen
August 17, 2020 @ 5:08 am
Follow you to Virgie!!!
NattyBumpo
August 16, 2020 @ 5:47 pm
His cover of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here actually did justice to the song. A song that really is too good to be covered in a sense but he pulled it off.
Oregon Outlaw
August 16, 2020 @ 6:16 pm
My local country station has recently been playing Tyler’s great cover of Rock Salt and Nails. Couldn’t believe my ears when I heard his voice shortly after Body Like A Backroad played. It’s an encouraging sign.
Toddxolsen
August 17, 2020 @ 5:07 am
Saw Childers records on a juke box in South Dakota yesterday. Pretty damn cool
The Original WTF Guy
August 17, 2020 @ 7:09 am
Just spitballing here, but with an artist like Tyler where there is no huge radio/label push isn’t it more likely you get a slow burn like this? Granted, the music has to hold up, and Purgatory certainly does. But rather than it being a situation where people are waiting and waiting and waiting and then all purchase it in a couple of weeks, with Tyler there are people who are just now becoming aware of him and are purchasing the record. That is not going to happen with some of the product Trigger mentions in his article – people know about them and we get hit over the head about a dozen times that there new album is going to be released on a specific date (right, GARTH!!!).
More about organic demand occurring than demand being created.
Anyway, just a theory.
Roger
August 17, 2020 @ 7:51 am
I play music for a living in the Florida Keys and I am encouraged by the # of requests I get for Tyler’s music – he has definitely broke through to the point where when I play Feathered Indians or Whitehouse Road people always mention how much they like his music – and they are great songs to play.
Weston
August 17, 2020 @ 11:12 am
“This is not to overlook or diminish the more recent Tyler Childers record Country Squire, which is also doing well. But it’s nowhere near the level of Purgatory, and it’s not even really close.”
This made me curious. I agree with the statement but I went back and looked at your reviews. You rated Purgatory as an 8/10 and Country Squire a 9.5.
Trigger
August 17, 2020 @ 11:35 am
Yeah, that’s one of the reasons I tell people to not take my ratings too seriously, because time is the ultimate critic of music. “Purgatory” went on to be named my 2017 Album of the Year, and “Country Squire” didn’t even get nominated in 2019.
TheRealBobCephus
August 17, 2020 @ 2:32 pm
I really don’t get the criticism of Country Squire. It’s a more cohesive listen in my opinion…I might like some songs on Purgatory a little better than any song on Country Squire, but I’d rather listen to the Country Squire album vs Purgatory.
Jared S
August 18, 2020 @ 1:52 pm
That’s my take too. Purgatory doesn’t really come together as an album for me. Country Squire isn’t a favorite of mine either, but I think it’s a better record than Purgatory.
I like Childers, but I don’t quite get why he’s blown up so much. His music is, for the most part, pretty good, not great.
Raw Hide
August 18, 2020 @ 8:43 am
I can see why folks would prefer Purgatory over Country Squire, but Country Squire is what made me fall in love with Tyler. He played almost the full album when I saw him live a year ago and it may have been the best concert I’ve ever seen – and I empty my bank account regularly for concert tickets.