The trio makes a record arrival among groups historically.
The Chicks (formerly Dixie Chicks) score their fifth No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart with Gaslighter.
The act’s first album of new material in 14 years blasts in atop the Aug. 1-dated survey with 84,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week, ending July 23, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.
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With the launch, the trio of lead singer Natalie Maines and multi-instrumentalists Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire claims sole ownership of the most Top Country Albums No. 1s among female duos or groups, passing The Judds’ total of four.
On the all-genre Billboard 200, Gaslighter bounds in at No. 3, marking The Chicks’ fifth top 10. The 12-song set, which the group produced with Jack Antonoff, also soars in at No. 1 on the Album Sales (71,000 sold) and Americana/Folk Albums charts.
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The Chicks previously ruled Top Country Albums with their 1998 debut Wide Open Spaces (for seven weeks beginning in January 1999); Fly (36 weeks, 1999-2000); Home (19 weeks, 2002-03); and Taking the Long Way (nine weeks, 2006-07). Additionally, their 2003 release Top of the World Tour Live reached No. 3.
On March 10, 2003, shortly before the United States invaded Iraq, Maines, who, along with her bandmates, is from Texas, told the crowd at a London concert, “We’re ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.” The commentary set off a firestorm of pushback, and the band’s run at the format was abruptly interrupted.
The group has scored six Country Airplay No. 1s, among 14 top 10s, all through March 2003. “Gaslighter,” the title-track first single from the new album, reached No. 36 in March.
“Gaslighter” re-enters the multi-metric Hot Country Songs chart at No. 28, after peaking at No. 20 in March, up 191% to 2.2 million U.S. streams. Plus, the set’s “Sleep at Night” debuts at No. 33 and “March March” re-enters at No. 47, after spending a week on the chart at No. 32 earlier in July.
In June, following Black Lives Matter protests, the group officially changed its name to The Chicks. “We felt like ‘Dixie’ is a word that does hold a lot of negative connotations and harkens back to a time in our country that brought pain to so many people,” Maines recently told Billboard. “We are relieved to have a new name and shed the ‘Dixie’ once and for all.”
