Thomas Rhett Goes Where No Country Artist Has Gone in 2017: No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Chart

Thomas Rhett Goes Where No Country Artist Has Gone in 2017: No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Chart

Chris Stapleton, Brantley Gilbert, Brett Eldredge and Zac Brown Band came close to scoring No. 1 albums on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart this year. But “close” only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and . . . sometimes . . . slow dancing.

Thomas Rhett is dancing!

TR’s new album, Life Changes, hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart this week, selling 123,000 equivalent albums, according to Nielsen Music.

Life Changes becomes the first album by a country artist to top the Billboard 200 in 2017. Life Changes is also the first country album to top the chart since Jason Aldean’s 2016 album, They Don’t Know.

2017 albums from Chris Stapleton, Brantley Gilbert, Brett Eldredge and Zac Brown Band all debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Additionally, both Dustin Lynch and Kip Moore’s new albums landed in the Top 10 on the Billboard 200. Kip’s Slowheart tallied 29,000 equivalent album sales and debuted at No. 10 on the chart, while Dustin’s Current Mood notched 36,000 equivalent album sales and reached No. 7 on the chart, according to Nielsen Music.

TR’s Life Changes (123,000) is the third biggest country debut in 2017, following Chris Stapleton’s From A Room: Volume 1 (202,000) and Zac Brown Band’s Welcome Home (139,000).

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