Kenny Chesney Ties Garth Brooks For Billboard 200 Record With New No. 1 Album 'Here and Now'

He also adds his 17th leader on Top Country Albums.

Kenny Chesney nets his 17th No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart, as Here and Now blasts in atop the March 16-dated list.

With the launch, Chesney ties Garth Brooks and Willie Nelson for the second-most leaders in the chart's 56-year history, after George Strait's record 27.

Concurrently, Here and Now debuts at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200, marking Chesney's ninth leader and tying him with Brooks for the most among country artists in the chart's 64-year archives.

In its first week, ending May 7, the set earned 233,000 equivalent album units (222,000 in album sales), according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Largely powered by sales generated from a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer tied to Chesney's upcoming tour, the sum is the highest for a country album in over a year-and-a-half, since Carrie Underwood's Cry Pretty bowed with 266,000 units (Sept. 29, 2018).

Chesney achieves his best week for an album since September 2007, when Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates bowed with 387,000 units.

Meanwhile, the new album's title-track second single pushes 14-11 on the Hot Country Songs chart, which blends airplay, streaming and sales data. It holds at No. 8 on Country Airplay, up 2% to 21.5 million impressions in the week ending May 10, and drew 4.5 million U.S. streams (up 38%) and sold 1,000 downloads in the week ending May 7.

The LP's lead single, "Tip of My Tongue," reached No. 8 on Country Airplay and No. 13 on Hot Country Songs late last year.