Weekly Register: Solid Debuts From 'Nashville,' ACM ZinePak

The ACM is celebrating the big 5-0 with this ZinePak, as well as an upcoming “Now That’s What I Call…” set.

Info from Nielsen Soundscan

The “Girl Crush” controversy was much ado about nothing, but all the hype translated to a sales boost. The Little Big Town single moved from No. 4 to No. 1 (+137%) on the country tracks chart, selling 60K TW for a RTD total of 330K. The song also gave album Pain Killer a shot in the arm. Adding 6.1K units this week (+113%) it moved from No. 15 to No. 7 on the country album chart. After 23 weeks, it has a RTD total of 162K.

Making solid debuts on the country albums chart were Nashville: On The Record Volume 2 (Live From The Grand Ole Opry House) with 13K, and the 2015 ACM Awards ZinePak with 8.7K, entering at No. 3 and 4, respectively. The ZinePak, available at Walmart, includes two compilation CDs, a 96-page magazine, an ACM Awards nominee ballot, and a window decal.

Other key debuts include Canaan Smith’s EP (2.9K) and the first album from Striking Matches (1.8K).

Luke Bryan (18K) and Sam Hunt (15K) hung tight in the No. 1 and 2 country album positions.

On the country tracks chart, Granger Smith scored the top single debut with “Backroad Song” sliding in to No. 4 with 32K downloads. It is from his Frank Rogers produced EP, 4X4, available May 4 via Thirty Tigers.

A few upcoming albums
March 31
• Darius Rucker/Southern Style/Capitol
• Various/NOW That’s What I Call The ACM Awards 50 Years/UMG-Sony Music-ACM
• Cam/Welcome to Cam Country [EP]/Arista Nashville

April 7
• Kristian Bush/Southern Gravity/Streamsound Records
• Will Hoge/Small Town Dreams/Cumberland-Thirty Tigers

April 14
• Reba McEntire/Love Somebody/Nash Icon

April 28
• Zac Brown Band/Jekyll + Hyde/Southern Ground-John Varvatos Records-BMLG-Republic Records
• Tyler Farr/Suffer In Peace/Columbia Nashville