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Disgraced country star Morgan Wallen has secured the No.1 album for America for the fifth week running, despite the emergence of a recent video which sees him using a racial slur.
The country star has faced strong consequences since the clip surfaced, with his label Big Loud dropping him and radio stations removing his music from their playlists.
Despite this, he has maintained a strong chart position – with album and song sales surging at the same time that his radio play and playlist inclusions continue to fall.
As Consequence of Sound reports, sales of Wallen’s ‘Dangerous: The Double Album’ are continuing to increase – with physical sales up 49 percent last week with a total of 37,000 units sold. In total, 150,000 album units were shifted – an increase of one percent from the week prior.
In contrast, a huge decrease in airplay for Wallen at radio stations across the US has been noted. On February 3, his music was played some 71 percent less than in the 24 hours before.
The video that caused Wallen to be dropped was filmed by one of his neighbours and saw the musician saying: “Take care of this pussy-ass n***a.”
“I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back,” Wallen said in an apology statement.
“There are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I want to sincerely apologise for using the word. I promise to do better.”
He has also told fans not to defend him, and claimed that he uttered the racist slur while on a 72-hour bender.
Wallen previously stoked controversy last year when he was filmed breaking coronavirus regulations by parting with fans without wearing a mask. His planned appearance on Saturday Night Live was pulled at the last minute because of his actions, although he was invited onto the show later in the year.
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