Lee Brice, Kip Moore Score Top 5 Album Debuts, Lionel Richie Still No. 1

Posted May 3rd 2012 4:15PM by Stephen L. Betts
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Billboard's Top Country Albums chart has three new entries in the Top 10 this week and two of them came in just shy of the pinnacle. Hard 2 Love by Lee Brice storms onto the chart at No. 2, with 46,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen Soundscan. It was held from the top spot by Lionel Richie's country duets disc, Tuskegee, which holds on to No. 1 on the country chart and drops to No. 3 on the Billboard 200. Lionel's album sold another 78,000 copies this week and has already passed the half-million mark. The No. 2 berth for Lee Brice surpasses the peak position of No. 9 for his debut album, Love Like Crazy, featuring the gold-certified (and record-setting) title track.

The week's No. 3 country album is the debut from Kip Moore, Up All Night, which features the hit 'Somethin' 'Bout a Truck,' which has already logged more than 625,000 downloads. Kip's album also heats up the Billboard 200, coming in at No. 6. It isn't the highest-charting album by that name, however -- the week's No. 4 entry is Up All Night by British-Irish boy band One Direction.

"I didn't know about that," Kip tells The Boot with a laugh. "Country fans don't know anything about the boy bands."

The Josh Abbott Band also have their first Top 5 country album with Small Town Family Dream' debuting at No. 5. It's the third release from the Texas group, who recently made their Grand Ole Opry debut, an event which resulted in Josh's confession of love for fellow country star Martina McBride.

Taylor Swift remains the top seller on the digital country tracks chart with "Eyes Open" from "The Hunger Games" soundtrack. Eric Church ("Springsteen"), Luke Bryan ("Drunk on You"), Carrie Underwood ("Good Girl") and Kip Moore ("Somethin' 'Bout a Truck") round out the Top 5 on that chart.

All eyes are now on next week's chart. It's safe to assume the competition will be Blown Away by the debut of Carrie Underwood's latest album but will it top the 318,000 in first-week sales of her previous album, 2009's Play On? Stay tuned!

Watch 'Catching Up With Lee Brice'