Shania Twain Returns to Top Country Albums Chart With ‘Queen Of Me’

Shania Twain’s sixth studio set, Queen of Me — her first since 2017’s Now — flies in at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart (dated Feb. 18), becoming her seventh top five entry.

Released on Feb. 3, the LP earned 38,000 equivalent album units, with 34,000 in album sales, in its opening week, ending Feb. 9, according to Luminate.

On the all-genre Billboard 200, Queen starts at No. 10, awarding Twain her sixth top 10.

The set, whose 12 songs Twain co-authored, is her first of new material since Now, which opened at No. 1 on Top Country Albums and the Billboard 200 in October 2017. Now marked Twain’s fifth No. 1 on Top Country Albums and her second on the Billboard 200.

Twain first appeared on Top Country Albums in 1993 with her No. 67-peaking self-titled debut set. She then reigned with The Woman in Me, which spent 29 weeks at No. 1 in 1995-96; Come on Over (50 weeks, 1997-2000); Up! (six weeks, 2002-03); Greatest Hits (11 weeks, 2004-05); and Now (one week, 2017).

In between Now and Queen of Me, Twain’s Not Just a Girl: The Highlights soundtrack, which accompanied her career-spanning Netflix documentary, opened at its No. 15 Top Country Albums peak last September.

With its 50 frames atop Top Country Albums, Come on Over is tied for the second-longest reign with Luke Combs’ This One’s for You, which began its rule in June 2017. Since the chart premiered in January 1964, Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album boasts the longest command: it racks up its 94th week in the penthouse on the latest list, with 46,000 units (up 8%).

Meanwhile, Twain joins five other acts with top five titles on Top Country Albums in the 1990s, 2000s, ’00s and ’10s: Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson and Tim McGraw, as well as Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton, both of whose streaks date back to the ’60s.

Jim Asker

Billboard