RASCAL FLATTS CD REIGNS

Rascal Flatts’ Me and My Gang looks likely to finish 2006 as the best-selling new single-artist CD of the year.

Me and My Gang sold more than 721,000 copies its first week of release, the biggest opening week of 2006 to date, and has currently racked up 2.8 million sales altogether. The only album with higher total sales in 2006 so far is Disney’s various-artists High School Musical soundtrack. “There’s no method to our madness,” lead vocalist Gary LeVox tells netmusiccountdown.com, who notes that the group has begun recording a follow-up. “We just look for and record great songs. We’ve written plenty of new songs for this record, [more] than any other.”

• published December 1, 2006