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Dixie Chicks fly high again with No. 1 U.S. album

Wed Sep 4, 4:03 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Dixie Chicks are making themselves at home on the top rung of the U.S. pop album charts.

The female country trio scored their second consecutive No. 1 album Wednesday as their latest release, "Home," smashed sales records in its first week, the group's publicist said.

"Home" sold almost 780,000 units in the week ended Sept. 1, the highest tally in the history of the group's Columbia Records label, a unit of Sony Corp ( news - web sites).

Additionally, the figure is the highest recorded by any female group in the 10 years that the charts have been drawn from point-of-sale data compiled by tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan.

The Texas-based group comprises singer Natalie Maines, 27; fiddle player Martie Maguire, 32; and Maguire's sister, dobro and banjo player Emily Robison, 30.

"They're absolutely thrilled," Dixie Chicks manager Simon Renshaw told Reuters. "I made sure they were all sitting down before I told them."

The first-week sales also dwarf those of the group's previous album, "Fly," which debuted at No. 1 in September 1999 with 341,000 units. That album has since been certified for shipments in excess of 10 million units. With "Home," the Dixie Chicks become the only country group and the only female country group to have two No. 1 debuts on the album charts.

The trio's major-label debut, "Wide Open Spaces," peaked at No. 4 in February 1999, a year after its low-profile release, and it has since shipped more than 11 million units.

Renshaw said the opening tally for "Home" was a vindication of "some huge risks" the Dixie Chicks have taken in the past two years: they battled Columbia in a high-profile contract dispute, and made some creative and artistic changes with the new record.

"When you see how the public has responded to the record in terms of its sales and you see how the media have responded to the record in terms of the reviews, that to me is the biggest reward," Renshaw said.

"Home" marks the first release on the Dixie Chicks' own Columbia-based imprint, Open Wide Records, which was formed as part of a confidential contract dispute settlement with Columbia. The Dixie Chicks sought to quit the label last year claiming they were being ripped off, while Columbia countered that it was owed five more albums.

The first single from "Home," "Long Time Gone," peaked at No. 13 on the pop singles charts. The group has just released the follow-up single, "Landslide," a bluegrass-tinged version of the 1975 Fleetwood Mac ballad.

The previous week's album chart champion, Eminem ( news - web sites)'s "The Eminem Show," fell to No. 2, while Canadian teen pop star Avril Lavigne held steady at No. 3 with her debut "Let Go."

Acclaimed English rock band Coldplay debuted at No. 5 with its sophomore release, "A Rush of Blood to the Head." Reuters/Variety



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