Lady Antebellum Debuts At No. 1 In US After Grammys

It’s been a big year for country music. Thanks to pop crossovers such as Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood, country has become a little mainstream nowadays. Not only did those two pop stars win numerous awards at both CMT and Grammys, but they’ve created a new niche for country artists who wanted to give us more of a folk pop edge such as Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum.

Although majorly billed as a country act, Lady Antebellum’s quick success also grew on the pop charts for 2009 and their outreach level has soared even more after their Grammy performance from Sunday. Their latest album, Need You Now, has debuted at No. 1 on the US Pop chart which makes them the biggest first-week tally for a country act since November 2008.

Billboard reports via Nielson Soundscan that Lady Antebellum’s rank puts them in a close second to Taylor Swift with her critically acclaimed Fearless. Need You Now sold 481,000 copies during their first week while Fearless sold 592,000 copies.

Aside from the country genre, Lady Antebellum also has the biggest opening week for January 2010. It is now second in line to the Game’s The Documentary which was released in January 2005 with 587,000 copies. Billboard also reminds us that most artists tend to release their new albums during the holiday season in November and December and implied January probably won’t have many big names coming out until later.

So, not only will Lady Antebellum probably continue to be one of the top selling artists for January 2010 but 481,000 copies was only the number Nielson Soundscan got by ending date, January 31, 2010. The Grammys’ effect will not even be fully factored in until next week’s roundup of sales. We’ve got a pretty good feeling their album sales will be much higher by then.

What do you think of Lady Antebellum’s success for 2010 so far?