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!

Kenny Chesney is developing his own rum, and you can help him by completing a survey:

Click here to take the survey if you are over 21.

Kenny Chesney will develop a new rum with Constellation Spirits, Inc. The joint venture will be called Crouton Spirits, LLC:

The company, a division of Constellation Brands Inc. said in a news release Monday the joint venture with the star will be called Crouton Spirits LLC. The company will develop a premium rum, which it said is one of the fastest growing sectors in the spirits industry.

Constellation and Chesney will on every aspect of the rum, including marketing and product positioning.

“We’re looking to create a fun-in-the-sun, vacation-in-a-bottle type experience that people everywhere can enjoy when they kick back and relax,” Chesney said in a statement.