Kenny Chesney Debuts at No. 1

Kenny Chesney photo courtesy of Sony BMG Nashville.

May 28, 2009 — Kenny Chesney waited nearly nine years after the release of his first Greatest Hits to put out Greatest Hits II, and with that many years of music to feed the CD, it comes as little surprise that his best-of sequel debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard country albums chart.

Hits II sold 89,000 copies in its initial week, vaulting him not only to the top of the country list, but also to No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart behind Eminem’s Relapse and Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown.

By its nature, a hits album capsulizes an artist’s work over a period of time, and Kenny suspects that as his artistry evolves, Hits II will set up the next segment of his career.

"I felt like that in my career that we’ve had such, so much success since the No Shoes album, and I felt like that we’ve released a lot of different kinds of songs, and we’ve been on the road all this time," Kenny says. "I just wanted to capture it. I wanted to capture this time. And I think it’s exciting in a way to capture what we’ve done and to see where it goes. And I felt like that now was the perfect time — as any — to try to start buildin’ that bridge to see where the music takes me from here and I’m excited about that."

In addition to having the No. 1 album in country music, Kenny’s also got the genre’s biggest tour on the road this summer. The Sun City Carnival Tour, with opening acts Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum, visits the Atlanta area Thursday. The lineup expands Saturday with the addition of Sugarland and Montgomery Gentry at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium in Louisville.