Jason Aldean Takes ‘Night Train’ Straight to No. 1!

With impressive first-week sales of 409,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan, Jason Aldean's Night Train charges to the top of Billboard's country albums chart and the multi-genre Billboard 200. The tally more than doubles the first-week sales of Jason's previous album, My Kinda Party, which has since gone on to sell more than three million copies. It also marks the second-highest debut in all genres of music this year and the best first-week showing for a country album since 2010!

"This past week was beyond anything I ever expected," Jason said in a statement. "The 'Night Train' has already been a crazy ride for me. We flew around making TV appearances and stadium announcements all over the country, fueled by little more than coffee and adrenaline ... so many fans jumped on board with us, and I couldn't be more thankful. I'm really looking forward to finishing out the tour this weekend and getting back to Nashville for the CMAs next week."

Jason's isn't the only new offering to debut on the Top Country Albums chart this week. Scotty McCreery's holiday collection, Christmas With Scotty, comes in at No. 2, selling just one-tenth of Jason's total, at 40,000 copies. Jamey's Johnson's Hank Cochran tribute, Living for a Song, managed a No. 3 debut with 32,000 copies sold. Little Big Town falls to No. 4 after five consecutive weeks at No. 1 with Tornado. Carrie Underwood's Blown Away is the No. 5 country album of the week, dropping from No. 2.

Jason's tenure at No. 1 will most likely be short-lived. Taylor Swift's Red, released on Monday (Oct. 22), is poised to move more than one million units in its first week, making her the first female artist in the Nielsen SoundScan era (1991 to present) to have two albums sell more than a million in their debut week. In 2010, Taylor's Speak Now managed first-week sales of 1.047 million units.

Both Jason and Taylor will be among the acts performing on the CMA Awards telecast, set for Thursday, Nov. 1 at 8:00 PM ET on ABC.

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