Taylor Swift is FEARLESS!!!!!

Now we know why Taylor Swift called her new album Fearless. It has absolutely thumped the competition, selling 592,304 copies its first week out, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and thus landing at the top of both Billboard's country and all-genre Billboard 200 charts. To put it another way, Swift sold approximately one-sixth of all albums purchased in the U.S. last week. Compounding the good news for the blonde tsunami is the fact that her latest single, "Love Story," is spending its second consecutive week at No. 1 on the country chart. It's a good thing the holidays are upon us. We chroniclers of the music scene can use the down time to discover new superlatives to apply to Swift's runaway success. Two other new albums grace the charts: a various artists compilation called Country Love Songs (breaking the ribbon at No. 59) and Kevin Costner & Modern West's Untold Truths (squeaking in at No. 75). Returning titles are George Strait's 22 More Hits (No. 70) and Emmylou Harris' All I Intended to Be (No. 71). There are three new songs to note: Kellie Pickler's "Best Days of Your Life" (No. 56), Rodney Atkins' "It's America" (No. 57) and Emerson Drive's "Belongs to You" (No. 60). Directly following Swift's new entry within the Top 5 albums are Rascal Flatts' Greatest Hits, Volume 1 Kenny Chesney's Lucky Old Sun, Sugarland's Love on the Inside and -- OMG! -- Taylor Swift's Taylor Swift. The remaining Top 5 songs (also in descending order) are the Zac Brown Band's "Chicken Fried," Montgomery Gentry's "Roll With Me," Tim McGraw's "Let It Go" and Sugarland's "Already Gone."George Strait's "River of Love," which he performed on last week's CMA Awards show, takes a big leap from No. 45 to No. 33. OK, can we agree that Fearless has left us breathless? Until next time,

Uncle Rock
--"if you wanna make it, you can't fake it...you gotta LIVE IT!!!"

CMA Music Awards....ITS THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!

Anyone who listens to the Big Ol Morning Show knows the story of "Awesome & Affordable Barbie", well my Haileigh Bug celebrated her 7th birthday this past weekend and guess who showed up "The new & improved Awesome & Affrodable Barbie 2". Just another crazy weekend in Rockyville. I hope that you all got to check out the Big Boy Toy Show 2008 at the Expo Center in Pikeville, we had a blast and pictures are on the way to coalcountry965.com. Be sure to tune in the Big Ol Morning Show this week for your chance to win tickets to the New Years Eve Bash at the Expo by participating in Rocky & Tia's Masterpiece Theatre. Now on to the good stuff...COUNTRY MUSIC NEWS! Toby Keith boots out the competition this week to plop his new collection -- That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy -- atop Billboard's country albums chart. His fellow Oklahoman, the most unfellow-like Carrie Underwood, remains at No. 1 on the songs chart for a second turn with "Just a Dream."This week's listings are fairly bursting with new arrivals. Right behind Keith's album at No. 2 comes Rascal Flatts' Greatest Hits, Volume 1. Joey & Rory's The Life of a Song sweeps in at No. 10. Time Life's full and abridged versions of Hank Williams' The Unreleased Recordings bow at No. 42 and No. 49, respectively.Then there's Johnny Cash's America soundtrack CD at No. 50 and Reba McEntire's 50 Greatest Hits ringing the bell at No. 67. Dan Evans' Goin' All Out checks back in at No. 39. Faith Hill's Joy to the World is the highest-charting Christmas album of the week. It jumps from No. 10 to No. 6.Four songs are charting for the first time: Martina McBride's "Ride" (No. 43), Jeremy McComb's "Cold" (No. 58), Jamie O'Neal's "Like a Woman" (No. 59) and Keith's "That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy" (No. 60).Songs staging comebacks are Kenny Chesney's "Down the Road" (No. 38) and Whiskey Falls' "Load Up the Bases (The Baseball Song)" (No. 55).The No. 3 through No. 5 albums, in that order, are Chesney's Lucky Old Sun, Sugarland's Love on the Inside and Taylor Swift's self-titled debut.Trailing directly behind Underwood on the songs chart are Taylor Swift's "Love Story," the Zac Brown Band's "Chicken Fried," Tim McGraw's "Let It Go" and Keith's "She Never Cried in Front of Me." Now back to election withdrawal. Until next time,

Uncle Rock
--"if you wanna make it, you can't fake it...you gotta LIVE IT!!!"

HAPPY TURKEY!!!

Howdy Coal Country! Can you believe that it is November?!?!?!? Let me be the first to tell you "HAPPY TURKEY"! It has been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks for Ol Uncle Rock and all I can say is "It is what it is!" With that being said, lets get down to business. Kenny Chesney's Lucky Old Sun is Billboard's top country album for the second week, and Carrie Underwood's "Just a Dream" floats in to the No. 1 berth on the songs chart. The big surprise is that Hank Williams III's latest CD, Damn Right, Rebel Proud, outsells better-publicized new albums from chart veterans Lee Ann Womack and Craig Morgan.Damn Right, Rebel Proud is this period's highest debuting album, checking in at No. 2 with Nielsen SoundScan-confirmed sales of nearly 20,000 copies. Womack's Call Me Crazy swoops in at No. 4, while Morgan's That's Why arrives at No. 8.The week's other new albums are Waylon Jennings & the 357s' Waylon Forever (No. 28), Julianne Hough's EP, NBC Sounds of the Season: The Julianne Hough Collection (No. 60) and Anne Murray's Christmas Album (No. 71).There are six first-time songs, led by Toby Keith's "God Love Her," which bows at No. 49. The others are Sarah Buxton's "Space" (No. 54), Jewel's "Till It Feels Like Cheating" (No. 57), Dean Brody's "Brothers" (No. 58), Matt Stillwell's "Shine" (No. 59) and James Otto's "These Are the Good Old Days" (No. 60).Completing the Top 5 albums list are Sugarland's Love on the Inside (No. 3) and Taylor Swift (No. 5).Songs No. 2 through No. 5 are Keith's "She Never Cried in Front of Me" (last week's champion), Taylor Swift's "Love Story," Chesney and the Wailers' "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven" and Tim McGraw's "Let It Go."Good advice, Tim. Until next time,

Uncle Rock
--"if you wanna make it, you can't fake it...you gotta LIVE IT!!!"