Chris Stapleton Surpasses Even More Album Sales Milestones

Chris Stapleton’s torrid sales pace continues, and is now stretching to almost two calendar years where the country star has single-handedly dominated the Billboard Country Albums chart. Along with being a perennial name at the top of the chart, Chris Stapleton’s last two records have just surpassed significant sales plateaus.
Stapleton’s debut record Traveller has now sold over 2 million copies (2.05 million to be exact), after recently experiencing a resurgence on top of its already strong sales performance due to the release of Stapleton’s sophomore record From ‘A’ Room: Vol. 1 in May. The new album has also just surpassed a significant barrier itself, now posting over 500,000 copies sold. With accumulated streams, From ‘A’ Room had already been Certified Gold by the RIAA in June, becoming the first record released in country in 2017 to do so. Traveller has now been officially certified Double Platinum—a distinction unheard of in the streaming era of music, especially for a country star.
But there is one interesting wrinkle to Chris Stapleton’s continued sales dominance. A few weeks ago, weekly sales numbers for 2015’s Traveller began to surpass those for his latest record From ‘A’ Room. This means that listeners are favoring the old record over the new one—a phenomenon not regularly seen in the album release cycle. Of course, nothing about Chris Stapleton’s album sales are of the norm. What that might mean for From ‘A’ Room, Vol. 2, which was promised initially to be released some time later this year but has yet to receive a release date, remains to be seen.
However, the fact that Stapleton very consistently has two titles at the top of the Country Album Sales chart may mean that when From ‘A’ Room Vol. 2 is released, he could have three records all at the top of the chart simultaneously. This would put Stapleton in the rare company of Garth Brooks as an artist who’s pulled off such a feat.
Also showing strong sales and curious strength at the top of the Country Albums chart is Luke Combs and his debut major label release, This One’s For You. Years of paying dues and building up a fan base have resulted in the young songwriter showing surprising strength in post-release sales, and challenging Chris Stapleton for the top spot on most weeks.
September 12, 2017 @ 10:09 am
It’s certainly a good problem to have I guess but the fact that ‘Traveller’ continues to have more legs than ‘From A Room’ may be a sign that his success is really wrapped into that one album.
Again, not necessarily a bad thing but for his long term career may be a harbinger of things to come.
I’ve compared him to Rodney Crowell career wise before as a guy who was around for years and then had one super huge album (Diamonds & Dirt) and then continues to be an influential artist with declining commercial relevance.
Just a theory.
September 12, 2017 @ 12:03 pm
Have you listened to “From ‘A’ Room”? It’s a better album, IMHO. “Traveller” has more pop radio friendly songs which probably contributes to this, as well as the fact that his label has done a terrible job promoting the new album. It’s good music, and today, and nowadays that doesn’t seem to translate to Actual radio play.
September 12, 2017 @ 12:25 pm
My comment was purely based on sales and long term performance. And if you look at the trends it wasn’t radio driving the sales of ‘Traveller’ at all it was practically everything but that. So even if ‘Traveller’ was more radio friendly it was still wildly unpopular at radio compared to the Hunt/Bryan/FGL types of the world.
Needless to say quality often doesn’t correlate to success. Why some artists or albums explode while others don’t can be unanswerable.
September 12, 2017 @ 9:30 pm
I would disagree. I thought Traveller was better. I just felt more emotion in the singing and songwriting in Traveller than in From a Room. From a Room is still good but Traveller is more heartfelt IMO.
September 12, 2017 @ 10:44 am
You were just mentioned in an interview with Stapleton on the Walking The Floor podcast. I get the feeling that Shiflett isn’t a fan of SCM.
September 12, 2017 @ 12:19 pm
Was curious, so I listened. I get the impression that Shiflett has “heard of” SCM but maybe hasn’t read much here. Sounds like Stapleton’s never heard of it and thinks it might be a magazine.
September 12, 2017 @ 1:30 pm
I listened to the interview and didn’t catch the reference. Aproximately when in the interview did the reference happen?
September 12, 2017 @ 1:43 pm
I’m at work so I can’t dig back right now, but it’s when they’re talking about how Stapleton came up through the mainstream, working with mainstream songwriters and artists, and that’s why he gets airplay vs. Sturgill, etc.
It was something along the lines of “Don’t you get tired of that ‘saving country’ guy tagging you in all this stuff?”
They go on to talk about how they have respect for all artists and anyone who makes a living in music.
September 12, 2017 @ 4:16 pm
Oh, now that you mention it I remember hearing it in passing. I heard it as Shifflet saying something like, “do you get tired of people saying your saving country music?”, but I wasn’t listening super closely.
September 12, 2017 @ 11:51 am
Kind of makes you wonder what might happen if they opened up the doors to other artists who are outside of the country radio machine.
There are many people I know that genuinely think Stapleton is the only source for authentic country music.
September 12, 2017 @ 1:25 pm
Lots of albums have been certified double platinum (well not lots but many), including country & Sam hunt. I think you mean 2x in actual album sales, not including streaming?
It will be interesting to see what happens with vol2. I think vol1 for many pple, didn’t live up to travelled, which is why sales of traveller have now passed it.
September 12, 2017 @ 2:09 pm
Very interesting that Traveller is already surpassing his latest project in sales. Throwing all your weight behind a debut album (regardless if it is intentional or not) and failing to give the same push to the follow-up is a recipe for potential disaster.
September 12, 2017 @ 6:08 pm
To be honest, the same approach that was followed for Traveler is the same they are using for vol. 1. The only difference is that now he’s on a headlining tour. I’m starting to think that most labels only support/promote artists who are mediocre
September 12, 2017 @ 10:35 pm
True, but I also think it’s a case of once you achieve “success,” you’re hung out to dry by the labels and expected to pull hit singles and albums out of thin air based off the momentum of that first hit song/album alone. That’s why so many artists nowadays have songs that reach #1 on country airplay and then drop off the planet two years later.
September 12, 2017 @ 2:23 pm
Thanks for weaving that Luke Combs thing into this article Trigger. After 1 week at #2 he’s back at the top with his incredible debut. At least he plays Country music. It’ll be over next week when Rhett debuts at #1 with his shit Pop album. Oh well I’m sure it won’t last that long.
September 12, 2017 @ 6:11 pm
Sales…No but he streams like crazy. Need proof? He’s the only country singer in top 45 on apple music (he’s no4)
September 12, 2017 @ 2:31 pm
We’ve all discussed/ argued at length on this forum about the merits of the two albums. Some feel it ain’t country at all, more bluesy soul, some say its real country. I’m in the middle, loved all of his work with Steeldrivers. Nothing more country than those first 2 Steeldrivers records IMO. Traveller grew on me and I like it fine. From a room hasn’t completely sold me but it has some fine moments. Just caught him live on current tour and was blown away. He’s playing as a trio band, only him on guitar, a drummer and bass. No steel. Didn’t think it would dazzle me but it did. The show was a mix of sounds but I came away feeling it was a country music performance of very high quality. He’s doing a few new songs we haven’t heard before including a very Waylon inspired song complete with a Telecaster and flanger. My final take is he’s worthy of the hype. Go see the live show with open mind if you disagree. And yes his voice is indeed a loaded weapon, but his guitar skills are decent too. Happy his music is selling, it shows people exist who appreciate substance.
September 12, 2017 @ 3:36 pm
Stapleton’s camp isn’t good about conveying information about new albums. I’m sure whenever it comes out I’ll enjoy it
September 12, 2017 @ 4:51 pm
I find it so gratifying that an artist, and not a Luke Bryan or Jason Aldean-type, continues to dominate the country sales chart. Almost gives me a sliver of hope for humanity.
September 13, 2017 @ 12:58 am
That’s how I feel. We saw Sturgill in Austin the other night and he sold out the 360 Ampitheatre. Luke Bryan is going to be there next week and Sturgill did it all without radio. Chris sold out Hollywood Casino in St. Louis which holds 20,000 and Zac Brown also did the same thing. Again, Chris did it with almost no radio play. And btw, there were a ton of young women and women in our 30s and 40s at Sturgill’s show. Keep hope alive, kids.
September 12, 2017 @ 6:01 pm
Who is still buying Traveller – the demographic? And has it parlayed into concert ticket sells? He was just here and there really wasn’t any buzz.
September 13, 2017 @ 3:38 am
I know I’m dating myself now but I used to say those exact words about Michael Jackson’s Thriller it kept selling and selling and selling. I never “buy” most music. I get it from the library like I did both Stapleton albums or get it “somewhere else”. The last music I BOUGHT was the Midland EP. I had to buy the songs for .99 a piece because I couldn’t find them anywhere else. They were worth every penny! My library already has the new album on order for me. I take care of the artists I love by buying concert tickets and other things. I’m sure Ma & Pa are in the Walmart in Bumbfuck somewhere saying
“hey here’s that Stapleton fellers CD it has that song on it” so they buy it for $16.99 so Walmart gets $10 profit. Stapleton see’s 25 cents of it.
September 12, 2017 @ 6:14 pm
I think he’s the Steve Perry of country music.
If he can bring bluegrass into commercial country, cool. The soul stuff is a head fake. It’s country soul, straight up.
He seems a little out of his depth. Not in control of what he means. Sam Outlaw has a surer grasp.
.02
September 13, 2017 @ 7:06 am
As a singer, I think he’s more like the Paul Rodgers of country music. As an artist, may the Tom Petty of country music.
I don’t think the soul stuff is a head fake. I think the blues and soul influences are genuine. I personally think that “roots artist” is a more accurate description of him than “country artist,” with country no doubt being a big component of his music.
September 13, 2017 @ 8:34 am
I was too obscure. What I mean is that I’d like there to be more bluegrass influence brought to country than the soul influence. There are plenty of singers in country and pop music, but the instrumentalists are getting fewer and fewer. If Chris brought more of his bluegrass chops into country, and less of the “I’m belting out a frickin fire-hose of soul, man!”, then country might start to sound more … country. So ya, I believe his blues and soul influences are genuine and that he’s a roots artist. Just saying the bluegrass influence would be better at making country more country.
September 13, 2017 @ 11:26 am
OK. I gotcha. From listening to that Shiflett podcast, it seems that From A Room Vol 2 will be similar to Vol 1. He said that all of the songs on those albums are pre-Traveller, but that he’s getting the hankering to write again. I’m a bluegrass fan and I’d more than welcome him dipping into that bluegrass well again, even if it’s just a little bit. Dwight Yoakam did a nice job with his bluegrass album, I thought, but of course, the mainstream spotlight isn’t so much on him. And it didn’t have any new songs.
September 13, 2017 @ 6:50 am
From A Room is very good but Traveller and IMHO a a better record that will stand the test of time. From A Room feels like a Chris Stapleton primer and would have made a better debut record. I think if From A Room had been released first, Traveller would have still surpassed it in sales.
When I first digested Traveller (after a second listen) I thought to myself that I would accuse this guy of just showing off if the songs were not so good. It has just about everything, pure country, country rock, southern rock, blues, soul, and tearjerker ballads. An Epic record that deserves all the accolades it has received. My observation of those who do not like the record (and who have good musical taste) is that they prefer records without so much ambition. Personally I love it when an artist swings for the fences and pulls it off.