LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Country trio the Dixie Chicks, the darlings of Nashville until their singer criticized President Bush three years ago, opened at No. 1 on the U.S. charts on Wednesday with their first studio album since then, but sales were sharply lower.

"Taking The Long Way," their third chart-topper, sold 525,000 copies in the week ended May 28, according to tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan. The figure ranks as one of the biggest openings of the year, and exceeds industry expectations by more than 100,000 copies.

But it paled against the 780,000 copies that their last studio release, "Home," sold during its first week in August 2002. It spent three weeks at No. 1, and has sold 5.8 million copies to date. In April another country trio, Rascal Flatts, opened at No. 1 with 722,000 copies of its new album.

The lower sales for the new Dixie Chicks album were not unexpected given that country radio is largely ignoring the Texans. The first single, the defiant "Not Ready To Make Nice," stalled at No. 36 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Songs chart.

On the other hand, the trio has garnered plenty of attention in the mainstream media, with a Time magazine cover story, and a segment on CBS newsmagazine "60 Minutes."

All the attention -- or lack thereof -- stems from a throwaway comment made by singer Natalie Maines during a London concert in March 2003. She told the crowd that the band was embarrassed to come from the same state as Bush. If one critic had not mentioned it in his review, she might have gotten away with it, but it quickly escalated into a major incident.

Radio stations stopped playing their songs and organized public destructions of their discs, sales slumped, death threats ensued, and country stars like Toby Keith bashed them. The women have largely laid low in the past few years to focus on their expanding families, and recording the new album in Los Angeles with rock producer Rick Rubin.

At this stage, it's possible the Dixie Chicks are abandoning their country music base, rather than the other way around. Rubin is best known for his work with funk-rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who had ruled the charts for the previous two weeks, and with deceased Nashville renegade Johnny Cash.

"I'd rather have a smaller following of really cool people who get it, who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith," Dixie Chick Martie Maguire told Time. We don't want those kinds of fans."

As for their other albums, their 1998 debut, "Wide Open Spaces," peaked at No. 4 a year after its release, and has sold 8.5 million copies. Their 1999 follow-up, "Fly," opened at No. 1 with 341,000 copies and has sold 8.2 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The Dixie Chicks are signed with Columbia Records, a unit of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, which is a joint venture between Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG.

"death threats ensued"

Isn't that American? If you don't like someone's opinion, threaten to kill them. Not unlike a dictatorship.

People that threaten others because of their opinions are nuts. If you don't want to buy their music, or you want to burn their CD's because of their opinion, fine. Go ahead, you have the right to do so. You DON'T have the right to threated to kill them.

I'm sorry that I erroneously said that they were indie (in an earlier thread). My opinion was based on a New York Times story that talked about when they walked away from Sony and neglected to mention that they walked back in through the side door.

Too bad for them. I won't be buying it.

Having said that...

"...but sales were sharply lower."

That's a cheap shot. It's still No. 1. Sales are lower because everyone hates the recording industry. Sales are lower because Sony exhibited their willingness to stoop to spyware.

To be honest, I never listen to the DC, but, when I heard they had spoken out about their opposition to things in government they didn't agree with...I thought, good for them.

DJs have apparently heard very pro, and very con things about the group because of their political statements.

I agree with George about the sales being lower because of both the RIAA and SONY and the rootkit fiasco.

But, I wonder how well they would do if instead of talking about Georgie Porgie, they were to come out in strong opposition to the draconian acts of the RIAA and MPAA.

By the way, the chortling that the MPAA is doing about the server raid in Sweden of PirateBay.org, the torrent site, may be premature.

Also, since TorrentSpy.com has filed a major lawsuit against the MPAA alleging some pretty rotten, if not outright criminal acts, the MPAA may have a problem defending themselves.

The Dixie Chicks have the right to speak out and consumers have the right not to buy their product, but if people are going to boycott...I say BOYCOTT-RIAA AND BOYCOTT-MPAA.

"So it goes."-Kurt Vonnegut
~Code

I will promote them and get them back on top they shall be called Victors Chix

"We don't want those kinds of fans."

I've never heard anything like that from a mass produced industry group. They usually want any fans they can to get for that almighty dollar. I think their labels must've groaned with that remark.

I think it's all working out just fine. They have the right to speak their minds, and consumers have the right to speak theirs by choosing to not purchase their product. It's how it should be.

Altho many support military action no one is "pro-war", there is a differance between stating one's opinion and mindlessly insulting the oppisition. The Ditsy Hicks saying they are ashamed of Bush being from the same state as them is as mindless and insultive as me saying I'm ashamed as being the same race as Albert Einstien. They crossed a line as protesters no matter what their opinion is.
At times music can be a driving force behind political issues, weather protest songs or music to inspire our troops, or a song about the treatment of zoo animals, ect ect. I look sometimes to our musical artists for their opinions, catch phrases, inspirational music, and may even blast the neighborhood on Veteren's Day. So for me it's not so much what the Ditsy's Hicks opinion on the war is, it's the total lack of taste and intelligence that has me upset and boycotting them.

Im sorry Code, please forgive me, I bought a Tool CD the other day. Otherwise it's been easy to boycott RIAA CDs for a few years now with acts such as Ditsy Hicks, Brittney and Kid!

I couln't disagree more with "InsaneWayne".
I respect a person for expressing "Their" own opinion and believing in it.As anybodies opinion is going to be counter someone-somewhere elses opinion.Opinions are good and represent thinking people.
I certainly do not agree with the current military action but have had to agree with historical moves that have been taken by the U.S regarding involvement in war in the past.
I do appreciate the Dixie Chicks embarresment with the possibility of someone mistaking them for posibly sharing a typical regionalistic attitude that is found in the "bush" region.They may have felt it necessary to make that point clear to a group of people that they were performing to.I can only guess ther motive by their actions along with my observations about regionalistic attitudes.

They were on Stern last week and they were great. I was living in Texas when they made their statement and everyone was all mad. Fastforward 3 years and now 70% of the country agrees with them.

I LOOOVE the DIXIE CHICKS!!! 1.REAL musicians. 2. Real GOOD musicians! 3. Fought the big record cartel for more control of their product and WON!!! I know, I know, they are RIAA affiliated, but they are singing about standing up for yourself as a woman and speaking your piece.. I also LOVE Pink for the same reason.. I get the albums from the library, tho...

-= Disclaimer:This is just my opinion. =-
- As such I'm NOT suggesting any comment following -
- this preface is true. In fact I live in a fairy-tale -
- and nothing I say should be taken seriously. -

" Fastforward 3 years and now 70% of the country agrees with them. "

That's why I find this whole thing so
amusing. They are being tormented
for being proven correct.
They still suck rocks though, sorry.

" Fought the big record cartel for more control of their product and WON!!! I know, I know, they are RIAA affiliated, but they are singing about standing up for yourself as a woman "

IF they are still RIAA, they haven't WON anything, really. By STAYING with the RIAA they aren't standing up for anyone BUT themselves, and the status quo. If they REALLY want to make a stand, perhaps they should stand up for any fan getting sued over one of their songs. Not gonna happen.
Pink's a neat color but I look lousy in it so I try to stay away ( yes I know THAT Pink )

clickplay did miss my point as I did say I look to some artists FOR their opinion, it's not what they said, but the insultive manner in which it was said. Somewhere on this site long ago I posted something about too much swearing between two in a discussion leaves others not even reading the post. Even in our forums here I tend not to read thur the insultive arguements no matter who's right nor wrong.

I would like to point out that click's post was polite and well written Sometimes ya have to smoke two of these before you can decipher my inane ramblings

"We don't want those kinds of fans."
Actually they were talking about the "red necks" who have hijacked country music. I have been keeping an eye on this since it started and although I wont by the album I do support them. For a Genre of music to turn on an artist for the artist speaking their mind to me was a bunch of bull and I was so impressed when they would not back down from their views and good for them. I agree with Jazz Mary on the Dixie Chicks although they are RIAA artist, they write most of their material and produce it and play most of the instruments, and yes they did fight Sony for more control and to get paid more from the sales once they found out they were getting the short end of the stick. But the real story here if you ask me is the big hill they had to face and they faced it and came back and did so with a number one selling album. Oh yea and they are the only women to debut a CD in the number one spot three times in a row. Speak your mind and stick by your guns is the lesson learned here if you ask me. Natalie Mains spoke her mind, and took the fury of "Country Music" fans and still did not back down good for her and I will be A fan for a longtime to come. She should be applauded for being a true patriot and questioning this admin and not following blindly.

"It is not unpatriotic to question your government, it is unpatriotic to not question your government"

I agree with Cryxan. They can say whatever they want, and people can listen to them and buy the music or not. If a performer wants to shoot off his/her mouth on stage, go ahead. Just be willing to take heat for it if the "fans" don't like it.

A celebrity's opinion doesn't matter any more or any less to me just because they're a celebrity (and I use that term loosely).

'I couln't disagree more with "InsaneWayne".
I respect a person for expressing "Their" own opinion and believing in it.As anybodies opinion is going to be counter someone-somewhere elses opinion.Opinions are good and represent thinking people.
I certainly do not agree with the current military action but have had to agree with historical moves that have been taken by the U.S regarding involvement in war in the past.
I do appreciate the Dixie Chicks embarresment with the possibility of someone mistaking them for posibly sharing a typical regionalistic attitude that is found in the "bush" region.They may have felt it necessary to make that point clear to a group of people that they were performing to.I can only guess ther motive by their actions along with my observations about regionalistic attitudes.'

ditto, exactly.

We have a right to express our opinions, and in fact a democratic responsibility to question the actions of the government if we believe they are in error.

As far as I can see all they've done wrong is play poppy country music and possess an opinion.

And it's not as though they deliberately rocked the boat either, the 'incident' happened at a smallish venue in a foreign country where public opinion was (and still is) very much against the Iraq war and the US foreign policy in general, and as the report says, it was only because one critic mentioned it in a review that it went further than that.

Why was there a warning "Pregnant celebrity pic" on the headline? Pregnant women are awesome... celebrities or otherwise ...In my opinion

You're certainly welcome to your opinion.