Eric Church's brand new album 'The Outsiders' has nabbed the No. 1 spot in its first week on the Billboard 200, showing everyone that right now, he is the 'chief' of selling albums.

Not only did Church sell 288,000 albums in his first week on the shelves, but he also scored the largest sales week of the year -- the biggest since superstar Beyonce's album in December 2013. 'The Outsiders' also logs the biggest week for a country album since Luke Bryan's 'Crash My Party' No. 1 debut in August 2013.

Church is on fire with his fourth studio album, and even if he's an outsider in many ways, he's clearly well-loved.

The rocker was focused on doing something new with 'The Outsiders' album, bringing more of a concert experience than a studio experience to listeners. The rock-heavy record, Church admitted early on, was going to be unlike anything he's done.

“It’s a bit of a statement. I wanted to send a message with this album that it’s gonna be different, it’s gonna be another level,” he explained, adding, "It’s gonna be something that we haven’t done before, and at the same time, if you’ve ever seen us live, if you’ve ever been to one of our concerts, it’s very much what we do.”

The star as succeeded in bringing fans something fresh and different, and Church dishes that he went into this project with full confidence, even calling his vision "bulletproof."

“We’ve had the ability after every record to feel more emboldened by what we did on the last record. And I think with this one, with the success of ‘Chief,’ we were a little bulletproof,” the 36-year-old states.

Although he had a bit of anxiety in seeing how the fans would respond after 'The Outsiders' was released, Church can breathe easily -- the No. 1 spot speaks for itself. On Feb. 24, he will kick off his European tour, hitting iconic cities such as London, Dublin, Hamberg, Amsterdam and Oslo for 12 rocking concerts.

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