Toby Keith’s “Clancy’s Tavern” debuts at No. 1 on Billboard country albums chart, Vince Gill’s “Guitar Slinger” bows at No. 4
Two of Oklahoma’s biggest country stars debuted new albums last week and scored big on the charts.
Toby Keith’s typically releases a new album each fall, and his latest, “Clancy’s Tavern,” bowed at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. It also debuted at No. 5 on the cross-genre Billboard 200 chart, behind new albums from Coldplay and Kelly Clarkson, Michael Buble’s new Christmas album and Adele’s juggernaut “21.”
The first-week success of “Clancy’s Tavern” has been fueled by his No. 1 smash “Made In America” and what may be country music’s biggest viral web event ever, his raucous ditty “Red Solo Cup.”
Though still not officially a single, “Red Solo Cup” has registered more than 2 million views of its hilarious party-time and celebrity-laden video, according to a news release. The song and video have both topped the iTunes country sales list and country radio stations nationwide have made the album track one of the most-added songs, sending it into the Top 40 without a concerted label promotion effort.
CMT.com has “Red Solo Cup” as its No. 1 video, joined by “Made In America” at No. 5, to give the Norman resident two of the outlet’s most-viewed clips. Media tastemakers from Wendy Williams to Stephen Colbert are buzzing about the song and video, and “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy reportedly wants to feature it on his hit TV show.
While the buzz builds stateside, the Clinton-born, Moore-bred star is in the midst of the European leg of his “Locked & Loaded Tour.” And even though the iconic Red Solo Cup isn’t really available in Europe, fans are showing up with them at shows. “Clancy’s Tavern” is No. 1 on the U.K.’s country iTunes chart, with prior albums “American Ride” and “Bullets in The Gun” both entering the top 20 this week. “That Don’t Make Me A Bad Guy” and “Shock’n Y’all” have entered the top 50.
Vince Gill, who was born in Norman and raised in Oklahoma City, released last week his first album in five years, with “Guitar Slinger” debuting at No. 4 on the Billboard Top Country Albums list and No. 14 on the Billboard 200 chart.
“Guitar Slinger” is the follow-up to Gill’s 2006 Grammy-winning four-CD set “These Days.”
Gill has been busily promoting his new album with appearances on the “Today” show, “Imus in the Morning” and NPR’s Mountain Stage. He will be on CBS’ “The Early Show” on Saturday.
On Wednesday, he will join Brad Paisley and Keith Urban in performing a tribute to Glen Campbell on the 45th Annual CMA Awards, airing live on CBS.
In addition, Gill recently recorded a new episode of the acclaimed series “CMT Crossroads” with fellow music legend Sting. “CMT Crossroads: Sting and Vince Gill” will premiere at 9 p.m. Nov. 24 (it was originally scheduled for Nov. 25 but CMT announced earlier this week the premiere will move up a day).
-BAM
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Toby Keith is the best……he is his own man….to bad for the naysayers!
Ed Bowling