Simple answer: he’s the guy with the #1 album in the country right now. The North Carolina-bred country singer has scored two top 10 albums prior to the release of his latest album, Chief. Talk about truth in titles, Church finds himself the chief of the charts right now, moving 145,000 units and topping the country list as well as the overall Billboard 200. His previous album, Carolina, benefits from the release of the new album as well. The album jumps 166-115 on an increase of over 30% and stands just a few thousand units short of the 500,000 sold mark.

It was yet another reasonably slow week for releases, and Church’s surprising number keeps Adele from posting yet another week at the chart’s apex. 21 has to settle for a #2 ranking, where she’s sandwiched between Church and another chart newcomer, Kelly Rowland’s third album, Here I Am. The latest effort from the former Destiny’s Child vocalist starts at the top of the R&B list and lands at #3 overall, with a respectable 77,000 copies sold.

Aside from Church’s head-turning entry, the big news on the chart continues to be the resurgence in sales for Amy Winehouse’s catalog in the wake of the singer/songwriter’s passing. Her definitive album, Back to Black, zooms up to #4 on the overall album chart on a 44% increase. Her first album, Frank, is up to #33 on a 58% increase, and the digital only Back to Black: The B Sides jumps up to #101 with a 36% jump in sales.

In the “all press is good press” category, I present you Kings of Leon. In the aftermath of some prima donna-ish (or maybe just drunken rock star-ish) on-stage behavior last week, the Southern rockers find their two biggest hit albums moving up the charts. Only by the Night (the album with “Use Somebody” and “Sex on Fire”) re-enters the chart at #147, adding even more sales to the 2.1 million it’s amassed so far. The follow-up, last year’s Come Around Sundown, pops in at a more modest #189, on a 23% increase. Now that the band’s cancelled their tour, should we expect an even bigger lift next week?

The chart will need some help-as no major chart-impacting releases hit stores yesterday. I’d anticipate a return to the top for Adele before Kanye West & Jay-Z (whose “Otis” moves into the Top 10 on the digital download chart this week) take over the top of the charts with their new Watch the Throne LP.

Check out the full Top 20 after the jump.

1) Chief | Eric Church
2) 21 | Adele
3) Here I Am | Kelly Rowland
4) Back to Black | Amy Winehouse
5) My Kinda Party | Jason Aldean
6) 4 | Beyonce
7) Kidz Bop 20 | Kidz Bop Kids
8) Red River Blue | Blake Shelton
9) LP1 | Joss Stone
10) Hell: The Sequel | Bad Meets Evil
11) Born This Way | Lady GaGa
12) When the Sun Goes Down | Selena Gomez & the Scene
13) Time of My Life | 3 Doors Down
14) We the Best Forever | DJ Khaled
15) Dream with Me | Jackie Evancho
16) Neon | Chris Young
17) All of You | Colbie Caillat
18) Sigh No More | Mumford & Sons
19) The Drug in Me is You | Falling in Reverse
20) Teenage Dream | Katy Perry