List of Top Country Albums number ones of 2004

File:US Navy 080128-N-3235P-221 Recording artists Jimmy Buffett, right, and Mac Macnally, a member of the.jpg

Jimmy Buffett (right) reached number one for the first time, more than 30 years after the release of his debut album.

Top Country Albums is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music albums in the United States, published by Billboard. In 2004, 11 different albums topped the chart, based on electronic point of sale data provided by SoundScan Inc.

In the issue of Billboard dated January 3, Toby Keith was at number one with Shock'n Y'all, the album's seventh week in the top spot. It occupied the top spot for the first seven weeks of 2004 before being displaced by Kenny Chesney's When the Sun Goes Down, which would go on to spend 14 consecutive weeks at number one, the year's longest unbroken run in the top spot. It also meant that Chesney was the act with most weeks at number one during the year; his figure of 14 weeks atop the chart was nearly twice that achieved by any other act. When the Sun Goes Down was one of five of 2004's Top Country Albums number ones to also reach the top spot on the all-genre Billboard 200 listing, along with releases by Jimmy Buffett, Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson and George Strait. The year's final country chart-topper was Greatest Hits by Shania Twain, which held the top spot for the final five weeks of 2004. Following that album's release, Twain, one of the most successful artists in country music history, would take a lengthy hiatus from the music industry and not release an album of new material until 2017.

Four acts reached number one for the first time in 2004. Most notably, in the issue of Billboard dated July 31, Jimmy Buffett gained his first number one with License to Chill after more than 30 years in the music industry. Buffett had first entered the Top Country Albums listing with his major-label debut A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean in 1973 and had placed 10 albums on the chart between then and 1986 without ever reaching number one. After that, although his albums continued to enter the all-genre Billboard 200, he did not return to the country listing until License to Chill entered at number one in July 2004. Gretchen Wilson, Keith Urban, and the duo Big & Rich also reached number one for the first time in 2004 with Here for the Party, Be Here and Horse of a Different Color respectively. Wilson's album recorded the highest first-week sales to date for a debut album by a country musician. In contrast to the first-time chart-toppers, George Strait gained his 19th number one with 50 Number Ones, extending his record for the highest number of chart-toppers in the listing's history.

Chart history

Horse of a Different Color was the first number one for Big & Rich.

Gretchen Wilson topped the chart with her debut album Here for the Party.

Keith Urban's Be Here was the first number one in the U.S. for the Australian singer.

50 Number Ones was the 19th chart-topping album for George Strait, extending his record for the most number-one country albums.

Issue date	Title	Artist(s)	Ref.
January 3	Shock'n Y'all	Toby Keith
January 10
January 17
January 24
January 31
February 7
February 14
February 21	When the Sun Goes Down	Kenny Chesney
February 28
March 6
March 13
March 20
March 27
April 3
April 10
April 17
April 24
May 1
May 8
May 15
May 22
May 29	Here for the Party	Gretchen Wilson
June 5
June 12
June 19
June 26
July 3
July 10
July 17
July 24
July 31	License to Chill	Jimmy Buffett
August 7
August 14
August 21
August 28
September 4	Horse of a Different Color	Big & Rich
September 11	Live Like You Were Dying	Tim McGraw
September 18
September 25	What I Do	Alan Jackson
October 2	Live Like You Were Dying	Tim McGraw
October 9	Be Here	Keith Urban
October 16	Feels Like Today	Rascal Flatts
October 23	50 Number Ones	George Strait
October 30
November 6
November 13
November 20
November 27	Greatest Hits	Shania Twain
December 4
December 11
December 18
December 25