Eric Church's 'Chief' is the No. 1 album in America. Those words will no doubt kick around in the singer's brain for a few weeks, as the 145,000 albums sold far outpace any of his previous two efforts. It's an especially impressive number for a singer who's yet to become a radio mainstay.

Church's album is the second country chart-topper in three weeks. Blake Shelton also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart two weeks ago, and finds himself at No. 8 this week with 31,000 copies of 'Red River Blue' sold. That's good enough for third on the country album charts, behind only Jason Aldean, who sold 42,000 copies of 'My Kinda Party.'

Pop singer Adele is second on the overall album charts,with 83,000 copies of the critically acclaimed '21' album sold. Behind her is former Destiny's Child singer Kelly Rowland's new album, as well as the sophomore effort from the late Amy Winehouse. In the first full week of sales after her death, the British singer sold 54,000 copies of 2007's 'Back to Black.' Aldean rounds out the Top 5.

In an interview with Taste of Country, Church says he's excited to finally debut live versions of the eleven tracks on 'Chief.' "This record was really a tribute to the fans, and keeping in mind the live shows and what our shows are live. We made this record live ... There are some mistakes. There’s some stuff, if I was going to be perfect I would have fixed it, but just like a live show, you can’t go back and re-sing it." The N.C. native is currently on tour with Toby Keith.

Watch Eric Church Perform 'Springsteen' from His New Album

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