A Big Christmas Week For Country Music At Retail

NEIL HAISLOP* REPORTS UNDERWOOD SELLS 400K
Carrie Underwood’s CD "Some Hearts" remained #1 after it sold an amazing 400,625 copies last week making her the top country seller, plus she landed at #5 on the overall Top 200 albums chart ahead of Mariah Carey.

CARRIE’S success was just one indication of big final week Christmas sales with 11 country albums selling over 100,000 copies last week. On top of that, every country studio album (except for Christmas albums and a comedy album) experienced significant sales increases.

KENNY CHESNEY’S "The Road and the Radio" remained at #2 selling just under 269,000 units. THE LEGEND OF JOHNNY CASH CD remained at #3 with sales of 177,548. RASCAL FLATTS’ "Feels Like Today" held onto the #4 spot on the country album chart with sales of 172,369…while FAITH HILL’s "Fireflies" flew up two notches to round out the Top 5.

TRACE ADKINS BREAKS PERSONAL RECORD AGAIN
Last week Trace Adkins set a new personal record for one week sales when his Songs About Me CD sold over 92,000 copies. This week he breaks his own record again with sales of 134,157 units.

* Haislop, the guy "After Midnight's" Blair Garner dubbed "The Nashville Answer Man" writes and produces country specials for United Stations, including "Country Winners of 2005," hosted by Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles which is running around the country this week.