Country star Jason Aldean’s new album is dominating the iTunes charts since its Friday release.
As of Sunday morning, “Highway Desperado” was at the No. 1 spot in the country music album category, beating out not one but two Taylor Swift albums.
Swift’s album “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” sits at No. 5 and “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” was at No. 9.
Highway Desperado is OUT NOW! This album is a tribute to my life on the road and all of u guys who come out and see us play every night. Hope u dig it! https://t.co/KL4DlWmKBV pic.twitter.com/gICi2SWlkc
— Jason Aldean (@Jason_Aldean) November 3, 2023
While Aldean doesn’t take the No. 1 spot on the iTunes top album list, as “Highway Desperado” was at No. 3, he managed to dominate Swift’s album “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” which was released on Oct. 27. The “[Deluxe]” version of “1985,” which has an extra song, was at No. 5. The regular version of the album was at No. 7.
So, Aldean beat out arguably the biggest name in music news today — and did it in three ways — in the face of unrelenting criticism from the establishment media.
Aldean’s new album includes the controversial song “Try That in a Small Town” which critics accused of being racist because the music video, released in July, featured images of urban rioters with a warning, as the title suggests, not to try that in a small town.
The song shot to No. 1 despite the fact that CMT pulled the video from its lineup.
WARNING: The following video contains language and images that some viewers may find offensive.
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The country star addressed the controversy over the song in an interview that aired Wednesday on “CBS Mornings.”
“There was people of all colors doing stuff in the video,” Aldean told the reporter.
“That’s what I don’t understand. You know, there was white people in there. There was black people.
“I mean, this video did not shine light on one specific group,” Aldean stated, “and say, ‘That’s the problem.’
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“And anybody that saw that in the video, then you weren’t looking hard enough at the video, is all I can tell you,” Aldean added.
In answer to a question about shooting the video at the Maury County, Tennessee, Courthouse where an 18-year-old black man was lynched in 1927, he said he simply didn’t know about the incident.
“I … don’t go back 100 years and check on the history of a place before we go shoot it,” he said.
He said he had more practical reasons to be familiar with the courthouse.
It’s “the place where I go get my car tags every year,” he said. “It’s my county that I live in.”
