Brantley Gilbert Hits New Country Chart Highs

12/27/2013 by Wade Jessen

Justin Nolan Key

Brantley Gilbert by Justin Nolan Key

The singer is the toast of three tallies with new single "Bottoms Up"

Brantley Gilbert makes his highest debuts on three Billboard song charts and posts his first No. 1 and best sales week on Country Digital Songs with "Bottoms Up," the lead single from his upcoming third album.

After the digital track and its accompanying video clip were released simultaneously on Dec. 16, "Bottoms" begins at No. 1 on Country Digital Songs with 63,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The song becomes Gilbert's first leader on Country Digital Songs, where his previous peak was No. 13 with "You Don't Know Her Like I Do" two years ago. The Georgia native achieved his previous best digital sales week when his breakthrough hit "Country Must Be Country Wide" sold 29,000 (Jan. 14, 2012).

Gilbert also makes a career-best start on the sales/airplay/streaming-based Hot Country Songs chart, where "Bottoms" pops on with Hot Shot Debut honors at No. 11. He registered his previous best debut on the list with "You Don't Know Her Like I Do," which entered at No. 41 (Dec. 24, 2011), eventually reaching No. 3. ("Country Wide" became his first and, so far, lone leader on the list.)

Concurrently, a No. 41 start on the Nielsen BDS-based Country Airplay chart with "Bottoms" earns Gilbert another best bow, passing his No. 44 start with "Country Wide" (April 23, 2011).

No title or release date has been announced for Gilbert's new set, but it's reportedly expected in the first few months of 2014. His last album, 2010's "Halfway to Heaven," reached No. 2 on Top Country Albums in a whopping 171-week chart run.

GOOD RIDE, COWBOY: Garth Brooks claims a fourth straight week at the Top Country Albums summit with his boxed set "Blame It All on My Roots: Five Decades of Influences."

Selling 199,000 units (up 16%) during the SoundScan tracking week, it adds the chart's Greatest Gainer trophy.

'REINDEER' GAINS: Late legend and Country Music Hall of Famer Gene Autry tops the Country Streaming Songs chart with "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" more than 60 years after its original release. It jingles 2-1 with 1.1 million U.S. streams, according to BDS.

Autry, who passed away in 1998, first released the song for the 1949 holiday season.