UMG Nashville’s President, Cindy Mabe, and Executive VP/A&R, Brian Wright, presented Chris Stapleton with a prestigious Diamond plaque in recognition of “Tennessee Whiskey” surpassing 10 million units sold. The presentation took place at Stapleton’s second of two sold-out shows at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena over the weekend.
“Tennessee Whiskey” was first recorded by David Allan Coe for his 1981 album of the same name, and then by George Jones, who took it to No.2 on the country chart in 1983. Stapleton’s version was certified six-times multi-platinum and by earlier this year was approaching two million US digital sales.
Last month, Stapleton announced his return to Canada with his extensive “All-American Road Show.” The tour will kick off next spring and include stops at London’s Budweiser Gardens, Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre, Montreal’s Centre Bell, Regina’s Brandt Centre, Saskatoon’s Sasktel Centre, Winnipeg’s Canada Life Centre, Edmonton’s Rogers Place, Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome and Vancouver’s Rogers Arena.
Tickets for the Live Nation produced tour, which will feature special guest Elle King, are on-sale now. The new tour dates add to a monumental past few weeks for Stapleton, who will perform during tonight’s 2021 CCMA Awards (streaming at 8:00pm ET via the Global TV App and Prime Video).
Additionally, Stapleton is nominated in three categories at the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards: Best Country Album (Starting Over), Best Country Song (“Cold”) and Best Country Solo Performance (“You Should Probably Leave”) and led winners at the 55th Annual CMA Awards with six awards—Male Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year (Starting Over, as artist and producer), Song of the Year (“Starting Over”) and Single of the Year (“Starting Over,” as artist and producer). He also took home Album of the Year at the 56th Academy of Country Music Awards earlier this year.
Earlier last month, Taylor Swift’s single from her Red (Taylor’s Version) album, “I Bet You Think About Me,” featuring backing vocals by Chris Stapleton, gave Swift significant new success in the genre in which she emerged.
“I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” debuted on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart at No.23, which as Billboard Country Update reported, is her second-highest ever start on that survey. It’s behind only the No.13 entry of “We Are Never Getting Back Together,” from the original Red album, at No.13 in September 2012. It was also Stapleton’s highest-ever debut on the chart, beating the No.26 start (and peak) of “Either Way” in May 2017.
Listen to the best of Chris Stapleton on Apple Music and Spotify.