Global InformationList of Top Country Albums number ones of 2015 information
Top Country Albums is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music albums in the United States, published by Billboard. In 2015, 23 different albums topped the chart; placings were based on electronic point of sale data from retail outlets.[1]
Luke Bryan was the only act to achieve more than one number one in 2015. In the spring he spent three weeks in the top spot with Spring Break...Checkin' Out, the last in a series of spring break-themed releases released by Bryan since 2009.[2] It included five new tracks as well as the six tracks from the 2014 EP Spring Break 6...Like We Ain't Ever.[2] Bryan returned to the top spot in August with the album Kill the Lights, which spent eight weeks atop the chart, tying for the most weeks spent at number one by an album with Montevallo, the debut album by Sam Hunt. Bryan's total of 11 weeks at number one was the most achieved by any act during the year and Kill the Lights had the longest unbroken run in the top spot of 2015 with its initial spell of five weeks in the peak position.
Several acts topped the chart for the first time in 2015, beginning with the band Blackberry Smoke in the issue of Billboard dated February 28.[3] The following week Aaron Watson entered the chart at number one with The Underdog. It gave the singer his first chart-topper more than ten years after he released his debut album, and was the first self-released and independently distributed album by a male soloist to enter at number one in the chart's history.[4][5] In July, Easton Corbin reached the top of the chart for the first time with About to Get Real,[6] and the following month Something More Than Free was the first number one for Jason Isbell.[7] In the fall, Brett Eldredge, Chris Stapleton and Chris Young made their first appearances in the top spot with Illinois, Traveller and I'm Comin' Over respectively.[8][9][10] In contrast to the various acts topping the chart for the first time, George Strait gained his 26th number one with Cold Beer Conversation,[11] and country music veterans Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, both of whom had been achieving number ones for more than 40 years,[12] spent a week in the top spot with the collaborative album Django and Jimmie; Haggard would die less than a year later, in April of the following year.[13]
- ^ "Billboard's Genre Album Charts Will Now Incorporate Streams & Track Sales". Billboard. January 26, 2017. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
- ^ a b Whitaker, Sterling (February 5, 2015). "Luke Bryan Announces Details for Final Spring Break EP". Taste of Country. Townsquare Media. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ Jessen, Wade (February 19, 2015). "Blackberry Smoke's 'Roses' Blooms at No. 1 on Top Country Albums". Billboard. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ Thompson, Gayle (March 2, 2015). "Aaron Watson Makes Billboard History With 'The Underdog'". The Boot. Townsquare Media. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ Deming, Mark. "Aaron Watson Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ McClellan, Laura (July 10, 2015). "Easton Corbin Just Got Real: 'About to Get Real' Debuts at No. 1". Taste of Country. Townsquare Media. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ Rowlands, Geoffrey (July 11, 2017). "Jason Isbell grateful for the people in his life". Gulf Times. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ Lealos, Shawn S. (April 2, 2016). "Brett Eldredge picks up fifth straight number one hit single". AXS TV. Archived from the original on 2016-08-05. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ Lealos, Shawn S. (November 18, 2015). "Chris Young learns of new number one on 'Today' show". AXS TV. Archived from the original on 2017-06-11. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ "Chris Stapleton Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ "Brett Eldredge Wins With 'Lose' on Airplay Chart; George Strait Earns 26th No. 1 Album". Billboard. October 13, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2008). Joel Whitburn Presents Hot Country Albums: Billboard 1964 to 2007. Record Research, Incorporated. pp. 106, 175. ISBN 9780898201734.
- ^ Doyle, Patrick (April 6, 2016). "Merle Haggard, Country Legend, Dead at 79". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 14, 2020.