Chris Stapleton had the biggest night of his career on Wednesday (Nov. 4) when he swept the CMA Awards and gave a gripping performance of his single "Tennessee Whiskey" and "Drink You Away" along with Justin Timberlake. That massive night is now carrying over on the charts; Stapleton's debut album Traveller now tops the Billboard 200.
Traveller re-enters the charts at No. 1 this week with 177,000 album equivalent units moved, according to Billboard. The record, which was originally released on May 5, actually sold more this week than it had in total. (Previously, it tallied a total of 96,000 copies) and it previously peaked at No. 14. The major rise in sales for Traveller - a startling 6109 percent - comes thanks to Stapleton's big time in the spotlight, where he was exposed to an audience that had previously never heard of him but was moved by what they say.
Stapleton won three CMA Awards last week: Album of the Year, New Artist of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year.
Stapleton wasn't the only country artist to get huge sales thanks to the CMA Awards. The top three records in the U.S. go to country music. Host Carrie Underwood's new album Storyteller keeps a second week at No. 2 with 81,000 units moved. Eric Church's surprise album Mr. Misunderstood, which was released during the CMA Awards telecast, sold 76,000 units. Mr. Misunderstood's numbers come from pure album sales, as the record is an Apple Music exclusive.
Beneath the domination of country music, pop has a small reign on the Billboard 200 thanks to the compilation album Now 56. Comprised of songs by Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Wiz Khalifa and The Weeknd, the pop record sold 58,000 units and debuted at No. 4.
Speaking of The Weeknd, his new album Beauty Behind the Madness spends yet another week in the top 10 at No. 5. He's followed by Fetty Wap's former No. 1 self-titled album at No. 6 and last week's chart-topper 5 Seconds of Summer's Sounds Good Feels Good at No. 7. Drake and Future's What a Time to Be Alive rounds out familiar releases in the top 10 at No. 9.
The No. 8 spot goes to the third debut of the week, the compilation record We Love Disney The album, which features remade Disney classics by the likes of Ariana Grande, Ne-Yo and Fall Out Boy moved 31,000 units.
The top 10 is rounded out by the final debut of the week, Def Leppard's new self-titled record, which moved 30,000 units, most of which were pure album sales.
This week's top 10 marks something interesting: Taylor Swift's 1989 finally drops out of the top 10 for the first time since its release 54 weeks ago in October 2014. She's all the way down to No. 11.
