Brad Barket/Getty ImagesThe Chicks rise to the number one slot on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart this week with Gaslighter. 

The trailblazing trio of Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer have debuted in the top spot on the chart for the first time since 2006’s Taking the Long Way, which also served as their last studio album before Gaslighter‘s release. 

Billboard reports that in the week since its July 17 release, Gaslighter drew 84,000 equivalent album units, with 71,000 of them serving as pure album sales.

The project also debuted at number three on the all-genre Billboard 200 and marks the fifth time they’ve cracked the top 10 on the all-encompassing chart alongside Taking the Long Way, Home, Fly and their major label studio debut, Wide Open Spaces.

Gaslighter also sits at number one on the Album Sales chart as the best selling album of the week.  

The Chicks, who dropped the “Dixie” from their name in June amid national protests against racial injustice, co-wrote 10 of the album’s 12 songs alongside producer Jack Antonoff. 

The album’s content covers a lot of bases: The title track was inspired by Natalie’s divorce from former husband, actor Adrian Pasdar, while “March March” is a stark reflection on the current times and was written after the trio attended the March for Our Lives rally to end gun violence in 2018. 

“Gaslighter” and “March March” have peaked at number 20 and 32 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, respectively.

By Cillea Houghton
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