Weekly Register: Big Debuts By Brantley Gilbert, Kelsea Ballerini

Brantley Gilbert is in the top spot on the country album chart with the just-released Platinum Edition of his current project Just As I Am. The album shot from No. 22 to No. 1, selling 28K TW and 800K RTD. The Valory Music Co. project offers five new songs including the raw title track and a remix of the two-times platinum “Bottoms Up” featuring rapper T.I. The standard release closed out 2014 as one of the Top 5 best selling country albums and earned the third highest country debut of 2014.

Black River Records newcomer Kelsea Ballerini’s debut album landed at No. 4 country, selling 13K albums and yielding 17.5K total consumption. Sales of The First Time were driven largely by her hit “Love Me Like You Mean It.”

Luke Bryan is kicking it in the top spot on the country tracks chart. He scored the top country debut and top overall debut. His new track “Kick The Dust Up” sold 127K, coming in at No. 5 overall and No. 1 country.

Gilbert’s BMLG labelmate Taylor Swift also had a good week. Her album jumped 146 percent on the Top 200, selling 91K TW. The single “Bad Blood” (a new version features Kendrick Lamar) rose 972 percent to No. 1 on the tracks chart, selling 321K TW. Her solo version sold 63K, for a combined total of 384K TW.