Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 01/11/2013 at 9:17 AM News

The Popdust Files: better dig two, the band perry, upcoming albums

If we spotted you the two best-selling digital country singles of all-time—Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now” and Taylor Swift’s “Love Story”—do you think you could guess the third? It’s not by a superstar like Taylor or Carrie Underwood, nor by an established genre legend like Tim McGraw or Toby Keith. Rather, it’s ’10s trio The Band Perry’s “If I Die Young,” which stayed popular for over a year and sold an astounding 4.4 million copies in all.

The song was just one of a quartet of country smashes off the group’s platinum self-titled debut, and based on new single “Better Dig Two”—one of our favorite country songs of last year—the next album should sell a few copies, too. That next album, still untitled, just got a release date. The group’s sophomore effort will be out April 4th, featuring “Dig” as its lead single, and will likely feature production from the legendary jack-of-all-genres Rick Rubin, who previously found huge success in the country genre with artists like Johnny Cash and the Dixie Chicks.

Still waiting on word about Miranda Lambert or Billy Currington getting around to releasing new LPs this year—or, God forbid, the Chicks actually making a comeback— but at this point, there might not be a country release this year we’re looking forward to more than this one.

[Billboard]