2008 Kenny Chesney Year In Review

posted by Josh

It was another stellar year for Kenny Chesney in 2008. 14 stadium shows, over a million tickets sold, several awards, and a new girlfriend all contributed to Chesney’s enormous success.

Here’s some of the highlights from 2008:

Poets & Pirates Tour

• Played to 1,187,622 fans at 46 shows, 14 of which were stadium shows
• Tour grossed $86 million – 6th highest grossing tour across all genres
• In April, Chesney injured his foot on stage in South Carolina

Awards

• CMA Entertainer Of The Year (3rd consecutive year, 4th overall)
• ACM Entertainer Of The Year (4th consecutive year)
• ACM Vocal Event Of The Year (”Find Out Who Your Friends Are” with Tim McGraw and Tracy Lawrence)
• IEBA Large Venue Artist of The Year
• Billboard Eventful Fans’ Choice Award
• Billboard Top Package Award
• Country Airplay’s Country Music Artist Of The Year
• CMT Online’s Most Digitally Active Male Artist
• Earns first ever Grammy nomination for Best Country Collaboration for “Shiftwork”

Charts

• “Lucky Old Sun” debuts at #1 on both the Billboard 200 and Billboard Top Country Albums
• 3 Number One singles: “Beer In Mexico”, “Better As A Memory”, and “Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven”
• Sets record this decade with 24 straight singles reaching the Top 10 on Billboard Country Chart
• Billboard’s Top Country Albums of 2008: “Lucky Old Sun” at number 21, “Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates” at number 9

Personal

• Chesney turned 40 in March, and many celebs attended his birthday party in Nashville, including Roger Clemens, Junior Seau, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Jennifer Nettles, Dierks Bentley, and Kix Brooks
• Joins the board of Plan!t Now
• In November it was reported that Chesney has been dating former Miss Tennessee Amy Colley for a few months
• In multiple interviews, Chesney opened up about his marriage and annulment from Renee Zellweger

Sports

• In July, Chesney threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park before the Red Sox – Yankees game
• Also in July, Chesney visited the White House and sang the national anthem at the first ever White House Tee Ball All Star Game
• In August, the New Orleans Saints invited Chesney to practice with them for a day at training camp
• In October, Chesney appeared on ESPN’s College Gameday at Vanderbilt in Nashville

Other

• No Shoes Radio launches on XM Satellite Radio in July
• In September, it was reported that Chesney was developing his own rum

And for us, ChesneyWorld launched in May and we’ve had a great first year. Thanks to all of you who have visited, and who’ve signed up for the daily e-mail updates. We look forward to providing you the most Kenny Chesney news and information again in 2009!