The hotly-anticipated project delivers 54,000 units in its first week
Kelsea Ballerini has never made music with an eye on awards, chart positions, or numbers scanned, but her straight-from-her-life song cycles have become a place where young Americans come to sort out their realities. Having earned multiple Grammy nominations with Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, unpacking the realities of a marriage falling apart and needing to move on, Ballerini returns with the life-affirming next chapter Patterns.
Debuting at No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Albums chart with 54,000 equivalent album units earned, she also delivered her highest Billboard Top 200 Albums debut at No. 4. Doing almost 35,000 physical albums, 19,000 SEA units and 277 track equivalents, the 15-song cycle weighing the highs, lows and realities of falling in love, growing up and having ride-or-die friends, the East Tennessee superstar is connecting with people palpably.
“It’s been a bucket list season,” Ballerini enthuses. “I made an album with a creative squad of some of my favorite women: bucket list! We announced Madison Square Garden on sale on my birthday: bucket list! We sold it out in minutes: super bucket list! We played Madison Square Garden to celebrate Patterns four days after its release, and all those people screamed along with me: massive bucket list! I’m overwhelmed in the best way.
“This is my first No. 1 Country Album and first Top 5 album overall. It makes me proud of following my gut and heart, but also the team of people who have rallied behind and beside it and me this chapter. There’s so much to celebrate, and I’m excited to hibernate with a full heart through the holidays before we hit the road.”
With the vulnerability empowering “Cowboys Cry Too,” her Country Music Association Awards nominated duet with Noah Kahan, still impacting country radio, the embracing and confessing “Sorry Mom” reaching across generations and “We Broke Up” igniting reunions everywhere, Patterns tells the rest of a story that shows weathering the storm doesn’t mean happily ever after, but rather having the tools to create the narrative you really want.
Crystalizing after a songwriting retreat with longtime collaborator Alysa Vanderheym, Songwriters Hall of Famer Hillary Lindsey, Grammy Songwriter of the Year nominee Jessie Jo Dillon and Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild, Ballerini delivered a judgment-free zone that feels good, embraces jagged spaces and the way relationships really are, not the way they look on Instagram.
Following Kelsea’s triumphant return to the stage at the sold-out Madison Square Garden show, Ballerini announced six additional dates to her Kelsea Ballerini Live on Tour, which begins in January 2025. Promoted by AEG Presents, the trek kicks off January 21, 2025, at Grand Rapids, MI’s Van Andel Arena and runs through most of America’s rock halls. Joining Ballerini on this very personal tour are openers MaRynn Taylor and Maisie Peters.
