Luke Bryan’s ‘Tailgates & Tanlines’ Debuts at No. 1

After watching two consecutive albums peak at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Albums chart, Luke Bryan is celebrating his first-ever chart-topping collection! 'Tailgates & Tanlines' sold more than 145,000 copies in its debut week, according to Nielsen Soundscan, to take the top spot over from Eric Church. Interestingly, the two albums sold nearly the same amount in their first week.

Luke did have some impressive competition on the multi-genre Billboard 200 chart, however, with the same-day release of 'Watch the Throne' by hip-hop titans Jay-Z and Kanye West. That album snagged the No. 1 spot, with Luke coming in at No. 2, registering the year's best first-week sales figures for a country album behind Brad Paisley's 'This Is Country Music.'

Luke's Top 5 hit, 'Country Girl (Shake It for Me),' has sold over 1 million downloads, making it the Georgia native's best-selling single to date.

"I'm very proud of this album, and to have fans connect with the music in this way is exciting and really humbling," says Luke. "When I was writing and recording this project, I wanted to make an album which made people forget about all the other things in their lives that might stress them out and just have fun! And to have this kind of response from my fans makes me feel like that goal was accomplished!"

Luke's previous album, the gold-certified 'Doin' My Thing,' generated three back-to-back No. 1 singles. And other than his success, he says one of the things that has changed dramatically since his 2007 debut is his singing voice.

"My voice on 'I'll Stay Me' is not even the same voice, not even the same animal," Luke tells The Boot. "I don't even approach singing that way anymore. I've learned so many more things about being an artist, and being who I am. The moment you start really figuring out where you want to go with who you are, and what you're about, is where your artistry really begins."

Luke begins his own headlining tour next month and has also announced dates for his third Farm Tour. Check out his upcoming tour schedule here.