George Strait’s “Time Machine” Tops Country Album Sales in 2019 So Far
The numbers are in at the midway pole of 2019, and “King” George Strait has the best selling album in all of country music so far this calendar year. Honky Tonk Time Machine has moved more copies than any other offering, speaking to the honky tonk resurgence country music has been experiencing across the board that has put a boost behind twang in 2019.
Released on March 29th, Honky Tonk Time Machine debuted at #1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart with 51,000 equivalent albums sold, and 44,000 in pure album sales. This was good enough to give Strait the best-selling album sales week in country so far in 2019, and also put him at #4 on the all-genre Billboard 200. It also extended Strait’s already historic marker for the most #1 albums in country music history with 27 under his belt, putting Strait 10 albums ahead of the nearest competition. Both Garth Brooks and Willie Nelson have 17 #1 albums to their name.
Subsequently Honky Tonk Time Machine has sold another 69,000 in physical copies and cohesive downloads, making him #1 in country music for 2019 so far. Coming in second is Kacey Musgraves and her latest album Golden Hour. Bolstered by the album’s very rare triple crown win for taking home the trophies for the ACM, CMA, and Grammy Albums of the Year, she has sold 97,000 albums so far in 2019. This is followed by This One’s For You by Luke Combs. Released over two years ago, the major label debut continues to receive incredible traction as Combs continues to break records and benchmarks, putting in a bid for being considered one of the most successful breakout country artists in history.
Also surprising on the list is Chris Stapleton and his now four year old album Traveller. It comes in at #5 with 80,000 units shipped so far in 2019, right in front of Carrie Underwood and Cry Pretty with 79,000. Brooks & Dunn also surprise with their Reboot project re-recording many of their hits with today’s artists, coming in at #10 with 52,000 albums sold. All of these numbers are courtesy of Billboard.
Of course these numbers look completely different when factoring in streaming equivalents, which put Luke Combs well on top, and almost doubling up on the competition with This One’s For You receiving credit for 605,000 units sold primarily based off of streams. 3,750 ad-supported streams generated by a song, or 1,250 paid subscription streams generated by a song equal one album sale in Billboard’s system. Physical sales and downloads are still weighted heaviest on albums charts since they signal a greater commitment from a consumer behind a title, and also generate more revenue for the artist. Often older artists, and more independent artists are left out of the streaming battle because fans are listening to their physical copies or downloads, and are not racking up metadata for their favorite artists.
George Strait’s success is also not just relegated to physical album sales. His latest radio single “Every Little Honky Tonk Bar” shot up the charts upon release, debuting at #20 in February, and spending months in the Top 20, peaking at #17, and giving Strait his best showing on radio since 2013.
Traditional country is not done yet, and neither is George Strait.
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2019’s Mid-Year Top 10 Selling Country Albums
1. George Strait, Honky Tonk Time Machine (113,000)
2. Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour (97,000)
3. Luke Combs, This One’s For You (91,000)
4. Florida Georgia Line, Can’t Say I Ain’t Country (82,000)
5. Chris Stapleton, Traveller (80,000)
6. Carrie Underwood, Cry Pretty (79,000)
7. Maren Morris, Girl (60,000)
8. Thomas Rhett, Center Point Road (59,000)
9. Dan + Shay, Dan + Shay (53,000)
10. Brooks & Dunn, Reboot (52,000)
July 2, 2019 @ 11:55 am
Hell yes. Long live the king, long live real country music.
July 2, 2019 @ 11:56 am
Older guys leading the way, put the young bucks in line.
July 2, 2019 @ 12:42 pm
I’m a huge George Strait and thrilled he’s on top but these are really low numbers all around.
July 2, 2019 @ 1:49 pm
The days of RIAA Diamond Status Awards for 10 million units sold are long gone. It doesn’t take much to show up on the Billboard charts anymore. You can thank the major labels for that due to putting 2-3 good songs on a cd and charging $18-$20 to the consumer.
The majority of George’s audience come from the “Soundscan multiplatinum-selling” era and still buy cds. They’re not tech saavy enough or just flat out don’t want to learn how to stream.
July 2, 2019 @ 4:28 pm
I’m tech savvy enough to stream. How about streaming sucks? Pay a fee every month and never own anything. That’s a bad philosophy in housing, its a bad philosophy with music. A REAL fan proudly has a CD sitting on their shelf so that when people come over, they see, “That’s what this guy is about.”
July 2, 2019 @ 7:06 pm
I gotta tell you, it sure DOES suck to have 50,000,000 songs I can listen to any time I want…for $10 a month. Or to preview an album before I buy the LP. It’s one helluva terrible time to be a music fan. You’re right though, it’s a serious drawback not to be able to show off Compact Discs and tell people that a REAL fan I am. You got me thinking…
July 2, 2019 @ 8:35 pm
There’s not 50,000,000 songs worth hearing. I’m not at all jealous you have access to Nicki Minaj and White Zombie. I paid one fee for my CDs and now I can rip them to a thumb drive to listen anywhere, with no further charges. Previews can be had for free on YouTube. But to each their own!
July 2, 2019 @ 8:46 pm
“But to each their own!”
Well said, but my own apparently isn’t good enough – I want to be a REAL fan! How do you display your CDs?? I can’t sleep until I know.
July 3, 2019 @ 9:30 am
Yea, streaming is so hard for us old folks.
July 2, 2019 @ 1:23 pm
Love George Strait, but it doesn’t take much to outsell what is on so called country radio right now.
July 2, 2019 @ 1:29 pm
Good news, but I also think we need to proactively protect the producers of the other HTTM (Hot Tub Time Machine) from some bro-country mob hurty words.
July 2, 2019 @ 1:46 pm
Really sad that Reba isn’t even in the top ten with such a marvelous album.
July 14, 2019 @ 7:45 pm
Agreed-this is an OUTSTANDING album. Not a real big Reba fan, but I really enjoyed hearing her again, and bought it as soon as I heard it previewed on the NPR website. Glad she and other older, and some newer acts (William Michael Morgan, Randall King, etc…) are drowning out the garbage coming out of the country charts (for the most part-GO MIDLAND!!) today!
July 2, 2019 @ 2:27 pm
I love seeing this. Traditional country is far from done. Im reminded of the week when George. B&D, and Reba all had albums out the same week. I live in a predominantly rural area of Kentucky and i remember our local WalMart couldnt keep those three cds stocked. Stack after stack they got sold! It felt like i was back in time to 1993 all over again. It just shows how hungry people are for substance again.
July 2, 2019 @ 2:44 pm
Keep making great music.,it’s great to listen
July 2, 2019 @ 5:25 pm
This is fantastic news for George and his family. I knew when he came out with him a new music. It would go to #1. His concerts are doing great. I never tire of hearing George. Congratulations George.
July 2, 2019 @ 6:36 pm
I bought the new Strait album and have every one of his others too.
I still buy Cds because Ii like to have a physical product and take them from my office to the living room to my truck to my shop and back.
I know too many people who have lost their whole catalogs of downloads and that is grim.
I like to read the liner notes to see who played on the cuts, who produced, Etc.
I grew up in an era where we went to the record shop every week to drool over all the new releases, that time is gone, but I’m not that old either.
Today , everything is disposable, and people never get the time to really dig into records anymore. I always found that the song you bought the record(recording) was never your favorite over time. There was that undiscovered gem on side B that really got your fancy. I still look for that, and it still proves true, at least for me.
July 3, 2019 @ 12:01 pm
Can’t wait to be a
July 3, 2019 @ 12:52 pm
Hes king an will forever be in country music. We always love us some strait. Congrats for honors. Strait forever.
July 3, 2019 @ 7:40 pm
Friday night it’s a given
We’ll be l i v n livin’ ????
July 7, 2019 @ 9:03 am
I’m not surprised. The King of Country will never go out of style. The man is timeless and makes timeless high quality real country music. End of story.
July 9, 2019 @ 8:45 am
So “Every Little Honky Tonk Bar” debuted at #20, spent months on the chart, but peaked at #17? That is not as promising as I was led to believe.
July 9, 2019 @ 9:56 am
Actually, I think it was a very solid showing. So much of single strategy these days is predicated on making it to #1 when breadth is not considered at all. A lot of people heard “Every Little Honky Tonk Bar” on the radio because it was in the Top 20 for months. It spend more time there than some #1 singles that shoot up the charts, and then disappear the week after they hit #1. It could have been better, but the fact it even got to #17 is a victory.
July 9, 2019 @ 11:04 am
But it entered at #20. That’s a pretty high debut. With such a high debut, I would think it would have gotten significantly higher. I’ve actually heard it a lot on the radio in my area, so it is surprising it didn’t get higher, especially since we appear to be leaning towards another resurgence in traditional country.