ELI YOUNG BAND’S LIFE AT BEST DEBUTS AT #3 ON THE BILLBOARD TOP COUNTRY ALBUMS CHART AND #6 ON THE BILLBOARD 200

Nashville, TN (August 25, 2011) – The Eli Young Band’s LIFE AT BEST made its debut this week at #3 on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart and #6 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 35,000 units.  It’s the bands first entry into the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 and more than doubled the first week sales figure for their major label debut JET BLACK AND JEALOUS.

The album is on a hot streak having made its debut last week at #1 on the iTunes Country Albums Chart and #3 on the iTunes All Genre album chart, just behind Jay Z/Kayne West and Adele.  While sales for the single have continued to soar, topping 700,000 downloads sold, the video has tracked nearly 4 MILLION views on YouTube.

“These first week sales are a mind-blowing culmination of ten years of hard work, amazingly loyal fans and the dedication of our record label,” said drummer Chris Thompson.  “We are thrilled.”

Praise for the album continues to pour in this week from Billboard, The Long Beach Press Telegram, Dallas Morning News, The Daily Oklahoman, CMT.com and GAC.com.    

While early coverage in The New York Times, Associated Press, Roughstock, American Songwriter and Country Weekly point to the fact that LIFE could be the band's most successful and critically-acclaimed album yet.

Dallas Morning News claims, “these 14 tunes blend effortlessly…mainstream country radio should be calling.”  Indeed.  The band’s lead single from LIFE, “Crazy Girl” is blazing up radio charts, climbing #14 this week on the Billboard Hot County Singles Chart and #15 on the USA Today/Country Aircheck powered by Medibase Chart. 

“EYB is on fire!” said Jimmy Harnen, President of Republic Nashville.  He added, “#1 album at iTunes, a single closing in on platinum, selling over 40k singles a week, the fastest rising single of their career closing in on the Top 10, a Top 10 Billboard 200 album and almost 50% of their sales are digital.  This is a band of the future in every way!”

ABOUT REPUBLIC NASHVILLE: Scott Borchetta, President and CEO of the Big Machine Records Label Group and Monte Lipman, President and CEO of Universal Republic, announced the formation of its new label partnership – Republic Nashville – in May 2009. Former Capitol Records Promotion executive Jimmy Harnen serves as President with Borchetta serving as CEO. The imprint is headquartered on Music Row and utilizes the combined resources of Big Machine Records and Universal Republic Records. Big Machine and Universal Republic first joined forces in 2007 to propel country Superstar Taylor Swift to Top 40 radio and beyond, with Taylor becoming the best-selling all-genre artist in 2008. Republic Nashville's artist roster includes Grammy-winning, multi-platinum superstar Martina McBride; Grammy-nominated,Double-Platinum sensations The Band Perry; Eli Young Band and Sunny Sweeney.

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