Behind Rascal Flatts is music legend Dolly Parton, with her highest charting solo album ever, "Blue Smoke," bowing at No. 6 with 37,000 sold. It's also her best sales week for a solo project since 1993, when "Slow Dancing With the Moon" moved 39,000 copies in its fifth chart week (ending March 28).
About 55 percent of "Blue Smoke's" first week sales came from non-traditional sellers, like QVC. On April 27, Parton starred in an hour-long concert special for the shopping network, which sold a special edition of "Blue Smoke" with a bonus disc of live songs. In addition, during release week, Parton visited a number of TV shows, including NBC's "Today," CBS' "The Talk," NBC's "The Tonight Show" (May 13) and "The Wendy Williams Show" (May 15).
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Parton, amazingly, has only visited the top 10 of the Billboard 200 once before: with the collaborative set "Trio," with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt. It peaked at No. 6 on May 2, 1987, after earlier debuting at No. 38 on March 28, 1987.
In terms of Parton's solo efforts, her highest charting effort had previously been No. 11 with "9 to 5 and Odd Jobs," on March 21, 1981. That album of course featured her No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 single "9 to 5", as well as the No. 41 hit "But You Know I Love You" and the No. 77-peaking "The House of the Rising Sun."
