Eric Church’s ‘The Outsiders’ Goes Platinum

Eric Church received some bling for the holidays -- platinum bling, that is. The North Carolina native's latest album, 'The Outsiders,' has been certified platinum, signifying sales in excess of one million units.

Released in February, Church's fourth studio album sold more than 288,000 copies in its first week, earning the top spot on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart. Those numbers also give the 'Talladega' singer the fourth-biggest debut week among all artists in 2014.

Church's impressive sales certainly stand out in the music industry this year. 'The Outsiders' joins Jason Aldean's 'Old Boots, New Dirt' as the only country discs that have earned platinum certification this year (Taylor Swift's pop record '1989' also received platinum certification).

'The Outsiders' recently won Album of the Year at the 2014 American Country Countdown Awards and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2014 CMA Awards. The 12-track disc, which was co-written entirely by Church, is also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Country Album; in addition, the album's second single, 'Give Me Back My Hometown,' is nominated for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance.

'The Outsiders' is Church's second album to earn platinum certification. His previous record, 'Chief,' also sold more than a million copies, catapulting Church to a new level of success in country music, which made him work harder than ever before.

“I think success gives you a chance to take some more chances and say some things that maybe early on you couldn’t say -- you wanted to say, but circumstances and conditions maybe kept you from it,” he says. “It’s up to us as artists that when we’re given that success … that we don’t just sit back.”

Church is extending his Outsiders World Tour into 2015. See a complete list of dates here.

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