Little Big Town has been having a great 2012! They just enjoyed their first #1 single with ‘Pontoon.’ Now, the album that features that song, ‘Tornado’, debuts at #1 on the Billboard country album sales charts!

The break out hit of the summer was no doubt ‘Pontoon’ by Little Big Town. The song was not only the first #1 single for Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook, and Phillip Sweet of Little Big Town, it also stayed at the top of the country singles charts for two weeks in a row. That also makes it the group’s first multi-week #1. The song has also been certified platinum for more than a million copies of the single sold.

The song was the lead single from ‘Tornado’ which hit stores everywhere last week. In the first week of release, ‘Tornado’ sold just under 113,000 copies. That was enough for the album to debut at the top of the Billboard Country Album sales chart. The week marks the best ever first week sales for the group in its history. The tally was enough to also help Little Big Town make its highest ever debut on the Billboard 200 all genre chart at #2 just behind the Dave Matthews Band’s new album.

Little Big Town worked with some new song writers for ‘Tornado.’ The four members of the group wanted to create something fresh and different from anything Little Big Town had done on their previous albums. In an interview with ABC News Radio, the group’s Jimi Westbrook said: “I think from the very start of this record, the writing process even, just wanting to shake it up for ourselves and do something different, and we made some great new friends through the process.”

Congratulations to Little Big Town on a big first week of sales for their new album ‘Tornado!’

By Buck Stevens

Watch other stars singing ‘Pontoon’ by Little Big Town below.