Carrie Underwood Makes History With Storyteller #1 Debut!
Underwood Becomes Only Artist To Have First Six Albums Enter At Top Of Billboard Country Album Chart
Underwood to Co-Host, Perform “Smoke Break” on Wednesday’s 49th Annual CMA Awards
Nashville, TN – Seven-time GRAMMY®-winning superstar Carrie Underwood writes a new page in history books as her latest album Storyteller debuts at #1 on the Billboard Country Album chart! Underwood becomes the only artist in the 51-year history of Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart to have each of her first six albums debut at #1. Storyteller sold 177,000 equivalent album units (traditional album sales, track equivalent sales and streaming equivalent albums combined), with pure sales in excess of 164,000, according to Nielsen Music.
With this sixth chart-topping album debut, Carrie Underwood joins Reba, Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton as the female entertainers with the most albums to debut at #1 on the Billboard Country Album chart. Storyteller also reached #1 on Apple Music’s Top Albums chart.
The 13-song 19 Recordings/Arista Nashville album Storyteller released October 23, and features producers Jay Joyce, Mark Bright and Zach Crowell. This release marks the highest-selling debut by a female country artist in the past 12 months; in fact, the next highest-selling debut during this period was Carrie’s Greatest Hits: Decade #1 which released on December 9, 2014. The hits package sold 94,000 in its first week, and remains Billboard’s best-selling hits collection of this year.
In addition to Greatest Hits: Decade #1 and Storyteller, Carrie’s six-album discography includes Some Hearts (November 15, 2005), Carnival Ride (October 23, 2007), Play On (November 2, 2009) and Blown Away (May 1, 2012).
Underwood recently announced the launch of The Storyteller Tour – Stories in the Round, which will hit the road this January, her first tour “in the round.” With the stage in the middle of the arena floor, the 360-degree setting will allow fans on all sides of the arena to get a very intimate and unique concert experience. Tickets go on-sale thisFriday, November 6, at 10 AM local time at www.aeglive.com. However, fans who buy Carrie’s new album, Storyteller, through her online store, www.carrieunderwood.fm, will receive a code to access the tour pre-sale that’s going on now.
Among media accolades for Storyteller, The Boston Globe cheers the collection as Underwood’s “strongest” and “most interesting album,” while the Associated Press lauds the release as “an album that balances Underwood’s proven strengths with songs that show artistic growth by drawing more on the singer’s personal life.”
Entertainment Weekly is touting Storyteller in an “A-” review, while AllMusic declares, “Storyteller gleams with steely assurance, perhaps the toughest and boldest record yet but one that hardly soft-pedals her softer side. …she knows how to deliver the essence of each song, modulating her performances not only so they match the grand productions of Jay Joyce, Mark Bright, and Zach Crowell but so they always are the focal point. That's no small feat and Storyteller is no small album: it demands attention and it deserves it, too.”
Rising to #4 on Billboard and Country Aircheck’s airplay charts today, “Smoke Break” is the smash lead single from Storyteller. The song was co-written by Underwood, Hillary Lindsey, and Chris DeStefano, and produced by Jay Joyce.
The music video of “Smoke Break,” #1 for a sixth week on GAC’s fan-voted Top Twenty Countdown, can be purchased here: http://smarturl.it/cuvideosb.
This Wednesday, November 4, Underwood will perform “Smoke Break” on The 49th Annual CMA Awards as she co-hosts Country Music’s Biggest Night™ with Brad Paisley for an eighth consecutive year. Tune-in for all the excitement when The 49th Annual CMA Awards airs live 8-11 PM/ET, November 4, on ABC Television.
