Thomas Rhett’s fifth full-length studio album, Country Again (Side A), debuts at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart dated May 15. In the tracking week ending May 6, the set, released April 30, earned 30,000 equivalent album units (14,000 in album sales), according to MRC Data.
Rhett lands his fifth top five entry on Top Country Albums. On the all-genre Billboard 200, the LP arrives at No. 10, marking his fifth top 10.
Country Again (Side A) is the first half of a planned double album, with Country Again (Side B) due later this year.
Rhett, 31, from Valdosta, Ga., follows his last album Center Point Road, which launched atop both Top Country Albums and the Billboard 200 in June 2019 (76,00 units; 45,000 sold), becoming his second leader on both lists. Life Changes debuted atop the tallies in September 2017 with 123,000 units and 94,000 sold, his biggest week to date.
Tangled Up arrived at No. 3 on Top Country Albums in October 2015 (76,000 units; 62,000 sold) and peaked at No. 2 that November and It Goes Like This, Rhett’s first full-length, debuted and peaked at No. 2 in November 2013 (36,000 sold). Rhett made his first of five appearances on the chart with his No. 24-peaking 2012 self-titled EP.
Rhett, who won the male vocalist of the year trophy at the Academy of Country Music Awards April 18, had a hand in writing all 11 tracks on Country Again (Side A), which Jesse Frasure and Dann Huff produced.
The new set’s current single, “Country Again,” jumps 28-16 on Hot Country Songs, up 28% to 5.4 million U.S. streams and 70% to 2,500 sold. On Country Airplay, it lifts 23-20, up 20% to 9 million impressions.
No. 1 AGAIN ‘AFTER’ SIX MONTHS Luke Combs’ “Forever After All” returns to the Hot Country Songs summit for the first time since it spent its first week on the tally at No. 1 on the chart dated Nov. 7, having been released as a new song on the deluxe edition of parent album What You See Is What You Get. It also soared in at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, marking the highest entrance ever for a country song by a male artist.
In its 28th frame on Hot Country Songs, “Forever” rules again, up from No. 3, as it rises 8-4 on Country Airplay (22.9 million, up 15%). It also drew 11.3 million streams (up 9%) and sold 5,800 (up 12%) in the tracking week, after its official video premiered April 28.
In between the two weeks atop Hot Country Songs for “Forever,” Combs added his fourth No. 1 with “Better Together,” also from What You See Is What You Get, for three weeks in February.
‘LIL BIT’ BIGGER Nelly and Florida Georgia Line’s “Lil Bit” enters the Hot Country Songs top 10, rising 11-9, up 5% to 7.4 million streams, 6% to 6.6 million all-format airplay audience impressions and 32% to 5,500 sold.
Nelly notches his first Hot Country Songs top 10 in his second visit to the chart, after “Good Times Roll,” with Jimmie Allen, reached No. 31 last July. Nelly has notched four No. 1s among 14 top 10s on the Hot 100, where he first reached the top 10 with “(Hot S–t) Country Grammar” in 2000 and first led with “Hot in Herre” in 2002.
In 2012, FGL’s debut hit “Cruise” crowned Country Airplay; aided by pop crossover airplay for its remix with Nelly, it rose to No. 4 on the Hot 100 in 2013. “Lil Bit” is the 18th Hot Country Songs top 10 for FGL, the duo of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley.
MORE NEW TOP 10s Chris Young and Kane Brown’s “Famous Friends” pushes 11-9 on Country Airplay (17.6 million, up 12%). The duet grants Young his 16th top 10, after “Raised on Country” reached No. 5 last August. Brown adds his seventh song top 10 and first since “Cool Again,” which hit No. 3 last September.
Plus, Miranda Lambert earns her 14th Country Airplay top 10 as “Settling Down” rises 13-10 (17.1 million, up 11%). It follows “Bluebird,” which became her sixth No. 1 last August.
