Country Star Morgan Wallen Has Best-Selling Album of 2021

Paul BoisDecember 28, 2021

Despite having been nearly completely blacklisted from the country music scene over his use of a racial slur, Morgan Wallen had the best-selling album of 2021, outperforming the likes of Adele, Olivia Rodrigo, and Drake.

Wallen was pulled from various platforms in February after a video showed him using the N-word to refer to a white person during a drunken night out with friends. After Cumulus Media pulled the singer’s music, the company demanded that its 400-plus stations remove Wallen from their playlists.

SiriusXM, Pandora, CMT, iHeartRadio, and many others followed Cumulus Media to blacklist Wallen’s music. The singer was also disqualified from playing at the Country Music Awards.

“I’m embarrassed and sorry,” Wallen said. “I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back. There are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I want to sincerely apologize for using the word. I promise to do better.”

Despite the de-platforming of his career, Wallen’s music sales continued to soar with his latest album, “Dangerous: The Double Album,” spending 10 weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 chart. According to the New York Post, Morgan Wallen’s sales trend continued throughout 2021 to earn him the top spot of best-selling album.

Wallen’s latest anthology, “Dangerous: The Double Album,” sold over 3 million copies. It eclipsed Rodrigo’s highly acclaimed “Sour” EP, which did 2.6 million in sales, and Drake’s commendable “Certified Lover Boy” compilation, which moved 1.8 million units, per music analytics provider MRC Data.

The “Sand in My Boots” strummer’s guitar-centric grooves even bested Adele’s critically esteemed “30” album, which raked in a shocking 1.4 million in sales.

In November, Wallen announced he would be embarking on an eight-month comeback tour in 46 cities around the country. The tour will begin on February 3, 2022, in Evansville, Indiana, and conclude on September 24 at L.A.’s Staples Center.

In April, after two months of silence, the musician thanked his fans for all their support.

“I have felt a lot of love lately from so many people I haven’t gotten to know yet,” Wallen said in the note. “I know my corner hasn’t been the most popular one to stand in recently, but many of you did anyway.”