Chris Stapleton, Joey + Rory Have Best Selling Country Albums So Far in 2016
Chris Stapleton is absolutely blowing the doors off the competition when it comes to country album sales in 2016, and it’s not even close. His debut Traveller is lapping the competition, while the only album that can keep up is Joey + Rory’s gospel record Hymns which is in 2nd place.
Stapleton’s Traveller has sold a total of 731,000 copies so far in 2016, and that’s for an album that was released all the way back on May 5th, 2015. To put that in perspective, that is nearly 3x the amount of albums of Blake Shelton’s If I’m Honest, almost 4x the amount of albums of Keith Urban’s Ripcord, and over 5 ½x the copies of Cole Swindell’s You Should Be Here, all of which debuted in 2016, are heavily promoted through radio, and should hypothetically have a greater chance to ring up more sales this calendar year. Traveller has now sold 1.42 million copies total since its release. Joey + Rory has also bested all of this competition with 326,000 albums sold so far.
Here’s how the numbers break down according to HITS Daily Double for album sales in 2016 so far:
- Chris Stapleton – Traveller – 731,000
- Joey + Rory – Hymns – 326,000
- Blake Shelton – If I’m Honest – 269,000
- Sam Hunt – Montevallo – 194,000
- Keith Urban – Ripcord – 190,000
- Thomas Rhett – Tangled Up – 158,000
- Luke Bryan – Kill The Lights – 143,000
- Carrie Underwood – Storyteller – 143,000
- Â Cole Swindell – You Should Be Here – 132,000
You may be saying that’s all fine and dandy, but as some love to point out, album sales aren’t as big of a deal anymore. It’s all about songs. Well even that holds a surprise in the top spot. Though Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Sam Hunt, and Thomas Rhett have all released mammoth singles in 2016, it’s Tim McGraw’s “Humble and Kind” that is the best-selling song so far in 2016 with 725,000 downloads, topping Thomas Rhett’s “Die a Happy Man” by 26,000. The Lori McKenna-penned “Humble and Kind” has also become the first solo-written song to top the country charts in four years.
The bros like Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line are still dominating in streaming numbers, but there continue to be signs all across country music that fans are looking for more substance, and finding it on albums that are not always represented by what the radio plays. And there is still no sign of Chris Stapleton’s Traveller slowing down. It was #1 once again last week, deposing Jon Pardi’s California Sunrise at the top of the charts.
July 11, 2016 @ 6:48 pm
Stapleton is played regularly on Sports Talk Radio as rejoin music. I’ve heard him on The Dan LeBatard Show (several times), Russillo & Kanell and Will & Kate. Mike Ryan, producer of the LeBatard show posts all of the rejoin music daily on Twitter. So radio still helps, even if it’s not Country Music Radio.
July 12, 2016 @ 6:55 am
Trigger wrote about it a couple months ago, but yeah Americana seems to be really popular with sports media lately. A lot of those guys are listening to Stapleton, Sturgill and Isbell.
July 11, 2016 @ 6:53 pm
Doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.
I’m not convinced there is any album on the horizon that will eclipse Stapleton’s figures by year’s end. Jason Aldean could continue to sell well, but there’s been little buzz surrounding the lead single and I think while he will remain a viable airplay and touring force, his downward trend in sales will continue. Florida Georgia Line will likely have better legs with “Dig Your Roots” than “Anything Goes”, but I’m still not convinced they’re big enough to go Platinum again. Garth Brooks may make an announcement soon regarding his next studio album’s release, but “Man Against Machine” struggled to go Platinum and I think he’ll enter this era with even less support at radio than its predecessor.
In terms of songs, “H.O.L.Y.” will eclipse “Humble and Kind” within the next two weeks (it’s just north of 700,000 copies presently) as the song to beat that’s at least being marketed as “country”. Yet it doesn’t at all diminish how extraordinary the success of “Humble and Kind” has been. It’s exceptionally rare to garner another career hit this late into one’s career, and yet here McGraw goes adding another career hit that will stand up alongside “Live Like You Were Dying”, “Don’t Take the Girl”, “I Like It, I Love It” and perhaps “Just To See You Smile” as the most important, definitive hits of his career.
Shania Twain, I’m guessing, would be the closest thing to a wild card here. Word has it she is preparing to roll out preparation for her first album in over a decade. I personally feel it’s too late for her to conquer the mainstream like she did before, but she may have enough of a sizable, loyal following to at least go Gold regardless of what she breaks her long hiatus with.
July 11, 2016 @ 9:02 pm
I would be very surprised if Shania’s release impacts any harder than what Garth’s did. I just don’t think she has enough star power left to gain any significant attention.
July 11, 2016 @ 11:53 pm
I personally don’t predict she will, gauging by the tepid reaction to “Today Is Your Day” alone.
I was just postulating if there was anyone who could surprise us, I’d rate Shania Twain the most likely. I just wouldn’t bet on it.
July 13, 2016 @ 12:04 pm
Trig – Ever thought about doing a monthly column on albums sales from the industry? I follow a rock/metal site that posts noteworthy sales numbers in a weekly column. I find it fascinating to see who’s album is hot out of the gate and what others are doing weeks/months later.
July 13, 2016 @ 12:34 pm
Matt Bjorke whose actually commenting in this comments section and regularly pipes up here has a website called Roughstock that does that. HITS Daily Double also does a lot of stuff along those lines. I have thought of doing some sort of weekly or monthly chart update, but it would be more based on commentary about the numbers than the numbers themselves. Honestly, I’m not sure the exact legalities of posting the full, verbatim numbers from other sources, and if you have to be subscribe to something to do that. It’s one of many things I want to look into. You know, when I hit the lottery and actually have the time to do all the things I want to do, or hire someone to do them for me.
July 14, 2016 @ 9:09 am
Haha well until that happens, keep doing what you’re doing. We all appreciate what it. Thanks!
July 11, 2016 @ 7:50 pm
traveller has sold 400,000 more copies that it’s competition that tells me if the public hears quality music they will respond and buy on itunes (or whatever everyone uses now) or some people like myself will go to a record store and get a hard copy
July 14, 2016 @ 4:06 am
I think its older folk buying the physical product. Which to me means we actually have a product worth buying.
July 11, 2016 @ 8:03 pm
“Shania Twain, I’m guessing, would be the closest thing to a wild card here. Word has it she is preparing to roll out preparation for her first album in over a decade. I personally feel it’s too late for her to conquer the mainstream like she did before, but she may have enough of a sizable, loyal following to at least go Gold regardless of what she breaks her long hiatus with.”
I agree ..its WAYYY to late for Shania to repeat past success . She actually released a single about 18 months back . Did you know that ? Did you hear it on radio ? Did you see her on any of the usual outlets performing it ? Didn’t think so …neither did most of us.
Shania was a gorgeous fluke , I believe. You could watch most of her videos with the sound turned off when she was ridin her wave and still be ‘ entertained ‘ . The songs were not very well written and her voice is unremarkable . But she made an impact . Anyone interested in Shania Twain now , I believe , would be an older fan who probably doesn’t download singles OR listen to modern ‘ country ‘ radio and probably wouldn’t be aware of new material , if they even cared . So yeah …I think you’re right . She may sell some product but if she’s still writing it ,I don’t think it’ll be worth listening to …nor do I think it will even approach being REAL country music as it never did before .
July 11, 2016 @ 8:07 pm
The sales figures for Stapleton and Joey and Rory is so encouraging on so many levels . Not the least of which is the sincerity factor . Most modern mainstream country radio relies on the ‘ hip’ factor …artists who are seen to be hip writing hip lyrics with hip expressions and slang about …well… about NOTHING really . It is absolutely reassuring to see these REAL artists selling to people who not only ‘ get it’ but are starving for it – whether they were aware of that or not…they want REAL !
July 13, 2016 @ 1:57 pm
And that the Joey + Rory album is titled Hymns That Are Important To Us makes it even more impressive.
July 12, 2016 @ 7:44 am
Loretta’s new CD should be on that list.It entered the Country Charts @ no.4.Plus,I know our local Cracker Barrel has had to re-order the CD three or four times.I was in our local Cracker Barrel yesterday,and they had only two copies.So they are defintly going to have to re-order again.
July 12, 2016 @ 10:30 am
Loretta’s record is terrific . Her voice sounds superb , for the mos-tpart , the songs and arrangements are as real as it gets and it has a rare ( by today’s measure ) sonic consistency to the effort overall .
July 12, 2016 @ 9:14 am
I’m really surprised that Eric Church’s “Mr. Misunderstood” isn’t selling better. The release was in November, so it’s not like it came out when “Traveller” did. Church isn’t really touring. He’s mostly playing weekend festivals. I wonder if that plays a role. His previous two CDs sold a lot better and I think his newest one is the best.
July 12, 2016 @ 10:15 am
It also didn’t help that he started off by giving away tens of thousands of copies to his most devout fans who were the ones most likely to buy it. But his strategy is that in the end it will ultimately pay off for him in good will. He has been keeping a low profile. It will be interesting to see what his next move is, and if his gamble with the surprise album ultimately paid off.
July 12, 2016 @ 9:44 am
This is really pretty unrelated but Stapleton absolutely killed it on Saturday night opening for GnR. He and his band were rocking.
July 12, 2016 @ 11:05 am
Stapleton’s album is a phenom and in a class all by itself. He’s also outsold Carrie and Luke, in albums released around the same time(ish). Some of these numbers are timing though. A lot of those high profile releases were in May/June, & the top sellers have accumulated all year. H.O.L.Y. will pass Humble & Kind, Blake will pass Joey & Rory.
I’m curious to see what kind of numbers Jason, Fla Georgia Line, and Miranda will do this year.
Also Stapleton aside, album sales industry wide are down this year, but in country album sales still rule over streaming. It’s interesting to see the trend changes.
July 12, 2016 @ 4:52 pm
Those numbers are off a bit. Joey+Rory are at 416,000ish now.