NASHVILLE, TN. & NEW YORK (RCA Records/ Top40 Charts) - Margaritaville's own
Jimmy Buffett enjoys the biggest chart week and first No 1 record of his 25+ year career with the release of his latest album, the country/Caribbean
License To Chill. The collection, which features duets with some of country's biggest stars including Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney,
George Strait, Toby Keith,
Martina McBride and Clint
Black among others, has struck an obvious chord with listeners, with sales of 238,597 in its first week of release. License to Chill sits atop the Billboard
Internet Album Sales chart as well.
The album's debut single, "Hey Good Lookin'," the old Hank Williams chestnut, features Buffett with Jackson, Chesney, Strait, Keith, and Black, and is currently moving toward the top of the charts (No 7 R&R, No 8 Billboard). It helped propel first-week sales, along with the song's colorful video, which recently world- premiered on CMT and is in Hot Shot (super heavy) rotation.
Critics are hailing the album as one of Buffett's best.
From the Boston Globe: "The many duets on License to Chill represent some of the best music of Buffett's career... The CD also features some exquisite ballads that he sings by himself... It's a true Buffett record."
From the Miami Herald, after quoting some lyrics from the song, "Simply Complicated": "Nothing complicated about enjoying this disc. How about Volume II?"
Here is this week's countdown:
1. License to Chill - Jimmy Buffett (238,600 copies)
2. Confessions - Usher (125,000)
3. The Hunger for More - Lloyd Banks (111,000 copies)
4. The Tipping Point - Roots (109,000)
5. Here for the Party - Gretchen Wilson (89,000)
6. Under My Skin - Avril Lavigne (80,000)
7. Horse of a Different Color - Big & Rich (78,500)
8. Musicology - Prince (74,000)
9. A Cinderella Story OST - Soundtrack (73,000 copies)
10. Los Lonely Boys - Los Lonely Boys (67,000 copies)
Usher's Yeah! leads the 'fireburning' download chart: North Americans bought 2.7 million download tracks last week, matching the previous week's total, the highest since SoundScan began tabulations in June 2003. To date this year, paid download tracks total 61.9 million.
Other notebale debuts included: "Some Kind of Monster"/Metallica (Elektra) No. 37, "Back to Basics"/Beenie Man (Virgin) at No. 51, "To Tha X-Treme"/Devin The Dude (Rap-A-Lot) at No. 55 and "Porcelain"/Sparta (Geffen) at No. 60.
