Georgia Entertainment Scene
Luke Bryan, Zac Brown Band score big on the charts
Luke Bryan will have much to celebrate at Philips Arena this weekend, at Philips Arena. Photo: Jonathan Phillips/Special to the AJC
BY MELISSA RUGGIERI
It’s a high-five worthy week for two Georgia country acts.
Luke Bryan –
who returns to his home state for a pair of shows Friday and Saturday at Philips Arena
– earned his third No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart and his sixth on the Top Country Albums chart with “Kill the Lights.”
Even more impressive is the 320,000 copies of the album sold, according to Nielsen Music. The country chart bases its ranking on those pure album sales, while the Billboard 200 uses a complicated blend of album sales, track equivalent album sales and streams (that combined number is about 345,000).
Zac Brown shares stories about his grandma on his new song. (Photo by Robb D. Cohen/Invision/AP)
Bryan’s fifth studio album bested the return of Dr. Dre, who landed at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with “Compton,” and also earned the distinction of having the best opening week for a country album in two years…when Bryan topped the charts with “Crash My Party.”
“Kill the Lights” is now the second country album to sell more than 100,000 copies its first week this year. Joining the Leesburg native in that distinctive club is Atlanta’s Zac Brown Band, whose “Jekyll + Hyde” moved 214,000 units its debut week in May.
Those guys can celebrate their own chart-topper this week, as the song “Loving You Easy” bounces one spot into the No. 1 slot on the Billboard Country Airplay chart after hanging around for 17 weeks.
The song marks ZBB’s 12th No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart and the second from “J+H,” after “Homegrown” settled in for three weeks in April.
About the Author
Melissa Ruggieri has covered music and entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 2010 and created the Atlanta Music Scene blog. She's kept vampire hours for more than two decades and remembers when MTV was awesome.
