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“Country albums in 2007 suffered a 16.3 percent dip in sales from those of a year before, falling from almost 75 million copies to just under 63 million, according to the annual compilation from Nielsen SoundScan.”-CMT

Rumor has it sales are down in Nashville. While some seem surprised by this, I certainly am not. It used to be that each new star had somethin’ about them that really stood out. The hot canadian. The rustic cowboy. The rodeo man. The girl next door. You know who I’m talkin’ about. But in the year 2007 if I were interested in buying say… 10 new albums from the newest chart-toppers I’d be hard-pressed to find 10 that sounded different from each other. Hmmm… tough choice #1; Kelli Pickler or Taylor Swift? Kenny Chesney or Kieth Urban? Who can tell the difference anymore? I think sales only dropped in proportion to the number of options.

~WC~

Taylor Swift is the darling of the Billboard country charts this last reporting period before Christmas. Her single, “Our Song,” holds at No. 1 for the second week, her self-titled album moves back to the No. 2 spot in its 60th week out and four selections from her Christmas album, Sounds of the Season, are twinkling on the lower branches of the song chart.

The week’s highest charting new song is the Garth Brooks-Huey Lewis romp, “Workin’ for a Livin‘,” which enters at No. 50. That’s a worthy leap but pale in comparison to Brooks‘ “More Than a Memory,” the first single from his current album, which debuted at No. 1.

The Eagles continue their long run at the summit of the albums chart with Long Road Out of Eden. According to the latest Nielsen Soundscan measurement, that collection has sold more than 2.2 million copies in just seven weeks.

There are no new albums this week, but three former chart dwellers have returned to the list: Rodney Carrington’s King of the Mountain (No. 70), Larry the Cable Guy’s Morning Constitutions (No. 71) and the multi-artist Original American Classics: Country Greats (No. 74).

In addition to the Brooks-Lewis duet, there are two new songs: Sugarland’s “Winter Wonderland” (No. 58) and Swift’s “White Christmas” (No. 59).

Carrie Underwood’s Carnival Ride, Brooks‘ The Ultimate Hits and Rascal Flatts‘ Still Feels Good round out the Top 5 albums in that order. The remaining Top 5 songs, also in descending order, are Josh Turner’s “Firecracker,” George Strait’s “How ‘Bout Them Cowgirls,” Montgomery Gentry’s “What Do Ya Think About That” and Sugarland’s “Stay.”

Kenny Chesney’s hard-charging “Shiftwork” barrels from No. 34 to No. 25.

Now it’s back to the mall.

~Courtesy of CMT.com