Sea Gayle/Arista Nashville artist Jerrod Niemann has the No. 1 country album in the nation as Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury tallies first-week sales approaching 34,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, breaking Lady Antebellum’s six-month streak atop Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.
Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury is only the second country album to debut at No. 1 this year and the first by a male country artist during that time. One of only three albums in 2010 to earn the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, the album also scores an impressive debut on the all-genre Billboard 200 album sales chart, where it enters at No. 7.
While the hit single “Lover, Lover” is climbing the country radio charts, it’s the whole of Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury that’s impressing fans, as well as media.
The New York Times cheers, “In sum, Mr. Niemann is a gentleman outlaw, but mostly he’s a history-minded technician on this thoughtful, magnetic record,” while USA Today declares, “You’ve got to love a country album that opens with a movie-trailer spoof and a ballad comparing one’s lover to cocaine. Niemann’s a freewheeling honky-tonker … and an intelligent singer/songwriter with a penchant for cornball humor.”
Niemann is also in esteemed company as one of only seven male artists on this week’s Billboard Top Country Albums chart to have hit No. 1 with their current releases, including Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, George Strait, Toby Keith, and Tim McGraw.
Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury features eight skits alongside a dozen songs, ten of which were written or co-written by Niemann. A throwback to the days of the album as musical journey, Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury was crafted as a start-to-finish listening experience.
This Friday (6/23) Niemann will appear on GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown, as well as on the new episode of CMT Insider, premiering this Saturday (6/24). The singer is also the focus of a feature in the new issue of Country Weekly, on sale now.
Following a packed schedule of upcoming appearances, Niemann will hit the road with headliner Gary Allan and Randy Houser on Allan’s Get Off on the Pain tour in September.
For more information on upcoming appearances visit www.JerrodNiemannOfficial.com.
