Keith Urban Hits Latest Country Chart ‘High’: ‘I’m as Passionate as When I Started’
“I love making music, and I’m as passionate about that as I was when I started,” Keith Urban tells Billboard.
The genre cornerstone notches his 11th top 10 on Top Country Albums as his new LP High debuts at No. 10 on the Oct. 5-dated ranking with 17,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States Sept. 20-26, according to Luminate.
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The set sold 12,000 copies and also opens at No. 6 on the all-genre Top Album Sales chart.
Urban arrived on Top Country Albums with his self-titled set in 2000; first hit the top 10 with Golden Road in 2003; and posted the first of his seven No. 1s with Be Here in 2004.
“I love discovering new things,” Urban says. “That, blended with my own well of influences and life experiences, is what comes out when I go into a writing room or the studio or even when I play live. I have ‘beginner’s mind,’ so I see each day as brand-new.”
Concurrent with High’s chart start, lead single “Messed Up as Me” jumps 36-24 for a new best on the Hot Country Songs survey. It ranks at No. 17, after reaching No. 16, on Country Airplay (10.5 million audience impressions, up 4% week-over-week).
“I can only create what excites me,” Urban muses. “I try to capture each song like a photograph. In this metaphor, I may take many photographs of each song … each photo is real … but one will seem to have captured the feeling better than the others. That’s the one I’ll release. I have no real clue who any of it may appeal to, but if I really love it, then I’m good to let it go and find others who might, too.”
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