NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Open Wide/ Columbia Records) - The Dixie
Chicks made music history at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony on Sunday, February 11, when they became the first female group ever to take home the big three top Grammy honors: Song Of The Year (for "
Not Ready To Make Nice"), Record Of The Year (for "
Not Ready To Make Nice") and Album Of The Year (for Taking The Long Way).
The Dixie Chicks achieved another Grammy milestone on Sunday when Taking The Long Way became the first Best Country Album ever to also win the coveted Album Of The Year trophy.
In addition to joining a handful of artists to have claimed all three top Grammys in a single year, the Dixie Chicks went an incredible five-for-five, winning in each of the five categories for which they were nominated, including Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal (for "Not Ready To Make Nice") and Best Country Album (for Taking The Long Way).
With four Best Country Album Grammys -- 1999: Wide Open Spaces; 2000: Fly; 2003: Home; 2007: Taking The Long Way -- to their credit, the Dixie Chicks are the only group or artist to have won more than once in that category and are the only group or artist to have won in that category for every studio album they've recorded. The Dixie Chicks currently hold 14 Grammy Awards.
When Taking The Long Way debuted at No 1 on the Billboard Top 200 best- selling albums chart the week of its release in May 2006, the Dixie Chicks became the first female group in chart history to have three albums debut at No 1, breaking the record the Chicks established in 2002 when the group's last studio album, Home, debuted at No 1 and made them the first female group ever to have two albums debut at No 1.
With the No 1 debut of Taking The Long Way, the Dixie Chicks became the first female group in chart history to have three studio albums occupy the No 1 slot on the Top 200.
Four weeks after its release, Taking The Long Way achieved a platinum (for sales of 1,000,000) certification by the RIAA, bringing the group's career total up to 41 gold, platinum and multi-platinum certifications, including two RIAA Diamond Awards commemorating sales of more than 10 million units (for Wide Open Spaces and Fly). The Dixie Chicks are the only female group to have achieved Diamond Award status.
