Country Superstar George Strait
Lands the Coveted Top Album Position in the U.S.
with “Somewhere Down in Texas”
Strait Earns His 20th Top Country Album Debut
Nashville, Tenn. (July 6, 2005) -- Country music king, George Strait earned his
second consecutive Number One debut on the U.S. pop charts knocking out Coldplay
who held the position for three weeks. Strait's "Somewhere Down in Texas," the
33rd album of his career, sold 245,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan. This
is his biggest-selling first week for a studio album. Strait’s 50 Number Ones album (which actually contains 51 Number One Singles) topped the charts last
year selling nearly 350,000 copies the first week with total sales of over 5,000,000
copies to date.
In addition to topping the Billboard Top 200 chart for all genres of music, the
MCA/Universal CD is Strait’s 20th time to lead the Billboard Top Country Albums
roundup. His first single from the CD, "You'll Be There," was his highest-debuting
entry on Billboard's Hot Country Singles and Tracks chart, opening at Number 30
in April. It is currently at the Number Four spot.
“The most rewarding thing for those of us at UMG Nashville is to be a part of
working with a superstar as he takes it to an even higher level,” said Co-Chairman
UMG Nashville Luke Lewis.
During his illustrious 24-year recording career, George Strait has sold more
than 62 million records. He is the most certified country artist of all time with
26 different Platinum or Multi-Platinum albums and the #2 most certified male
artist in all genres of music (just behind Elvis Presley). Strait holds the record
for the most Number One songs by a single artist with 51.
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