Unstoppable (Rascal Flatts album)

Unstoppable is the sixth studio album by American country music group Rascal Flatts, and their final album to be released with Lyric Street Records. It was released on April 7, 2009 and produced four singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in the U.S. with 351,000 copies sold, making it the band's fourth consecutive number-one debut on the chart. It topped the 1 million mark on October 31, 2009.[6] As of June 2010, the album had sold over 1,230,638 copies in the United States.[7] This was the band's final album to top the Billboard 200.

Unstoppable
Studio album by
Rascal Flatts
ReleasedApril 7, 2009 (2009-04-07)
GenreCountry
Length45:41 (Standard Edition) 48:56 (J. C. Penney Bonus Track Edition)
LabelLyric Street
Producer
Rascal Flatts chronology
Greatest Hits Volume 1
(2008)		 Unstoppable
(2009)		 Nothing Like This
(2010)
Singles from Unstoppable
  1. "Here Comes Goodbye"
    Released: January 20, 2009
  2. "Summer Nights"
    Released: May 19, 2009
  3. "Why"
    Released: September 29, 2009
  4. "Unstoppable"
    Released: January 4, 2010
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
About.com[2]
Entertainment WeeklyB-[3]
Roughstock(favorable)[4]
USA Today[5]

Content

Three tracks were released as digital singles prior to the album's release: "Forever", "Love Who You Love" and "Things That Matter", on March 17, 24, and 31, respectively.

Singles

The first single, "Here Comes Goodbye", was released on January 20, 2009. The song was co-written by American Idol season 6 finalist Chris Sligh. Rascal Flatts will tour in support of the album on the Rascal Flatts American Living Unstoppable Tour, presented by department store chain JCPenney. Editions sold at JCPenney include the bonus track "American Living".[8] "Summer Nights" was released as the second single from the album on May 19, 2009. It reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. "Why" was released as the third single from the album on September 29, 2009. It became their lowest-peaking career single to date, peaking at number 18 on the aforementioned chart. "'Unstoppable" was released as the album's fourth single on January 4, 2010, and was a Top 10 hit on the Billboard country chart.

Critical reception

The album overall gained mixed reviews. Matt Bjorke of Roughstock gave the album a favorable review. Similar to his later review of the single "Summer Nights,", Bjorke commented that the album would appeal to fans of Rascal Flatts, but would unlikely bring new fans to the group. He specifically cited "Why" as the best track of the album, writing, "This is the kind of song that got me to personally like Rascal Flatts and it's certainly the best track on 'Unstoppable'" and "There's gotta be 'Song of the Year' accolades somewhere down the line for this song as it's that powerful."[4]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Love Who You Love"Jason Sellers, Neil Thrasher, Paul Jenkins3:36
2."Here Comes Goodbye"Chris Sligh, Clint Lagerberg, Charles Kelley4:02
3."Close"Jay DeMarcus, Michael Dulaney, Sellers3:48
4."Forever"Sellers, Thrasher4:16
5."She'd Be California"Jenkins, Sellers, Tim Nichols4:18
6."Unstoppable"DeMarcus, James T. Slater, Hillary Lindsey3:48
7."Things That Matter"Gary LeVox, Thrasher, Dulaney4:41
8."Summer Nights"LeVox, Brett James, busbee4:03
9."Holdin' On"Dulaney, Thrasher, Wendell Mobley4:25
10."Once"Kara DioGuardi, John Shanks, Jeffrey Steele3:50
11."Why"Rob Mathes, Allen Shamblin4:55
Total length:45:41
J. C. Penney Bonus Track
No.TitleLength
12."American Living"3:15

Personnel
Rascal Flatts
Additional Musicians
  • Tim Akers - keyboards (1)
  • Tom Bukovac - acoustic guitar (2,5,6,8,9), electric guitar (1,2,4,5,6,8,9,11)
  • David Campbell - string arrangements (2), conductor (2)
  • Eric Darken - percussion (1,5,7,11)
  • Dan Dugmore - steel guitar (5,9,10)
  • Shannon Forrest - drums (7)
  • Paul Franklin - steel guitar (1,2,3,4,6,7,8,11), soloist (7)
  • Carl Gorodetzky - string contractor (11)
  • Dann Huff - banjo (3), dobro (10), acoustic guitar (2,4,10,11), electric guitar (all tracks except 6), mandolin (1,3)
  • Charlie Judge - conductor (11), cello (2), Hammond B-3 organ (8,10), keyboards (1,3,7,11), lap steel guitar (2,10), loops (2,4,5,6,8,9,10), percussion (6,8), piano (4,10), electric piano (5), string arrangements (11), strings (6,9), synthesizer (2,4,5,6,8,9,10)
  • The London Session Orchestra - strings (2)
  • Chris McHugh - drums (all tracks except 7)
  • Gordon Mote - piano (2,6,7,11)
  • The Nashville String Machine - strings (11)
  • Steve Nathan - Hammond B-3 organ (5)
  • Adam Shoenfeld - electric guitar (3,7,10)
  • Ilya Toshinsky - bouzouki (1), acoustic guitar (1,2,3,6,7,10), electric guitar (2,6)
  • Jonathan Yudkin - cello (5), fiddle (1,6,8), mandolin (7,11), string arrangements (5), string bass (5), viola (5), violin (5)

Chart performance

Album
Chart (2009) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums 1
U.S. Billboard 200 1
Canadian Albums Chart 7

Year-end charts
Chart (2010) Position
US Billboard 200[9] 164
US Billboard Top Country Albums[10] 28

Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions
US Country US
[11]		 US
Pop		 US AC CAN
2009 "Here Comes Goodbye" 1 11 23 13 48
"Summer Nights" 2 37 — — 61
"Why" 18 102 — — —
2010 "Unstoppable" 7 52 — — 83
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Certifications
Region Certification
United States (RIAA)[12] Platinum
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gollark: Politicians are in fact entirely incapable of gaining knowledge, so no.
gollark: Well then I refuse to recognize the Ceramic Wobblers.

References
  1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Unstoppable review". Allmusic. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  2. Fabian, Shelly. "Rascal Flatts - Unstoppable review". About.com. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  3. Bierly, Mandi (April 14, 2009). "Unstoppable review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  4. "Rascal Flatts - "Unstoppable"". Archived from the original on 2009-04-11. Retrieved 2009-04-07.
  5. Mansfield, Brian (April 6, 2009). "Rascal Flatts: 'Unstoppable' force of country". USA Today. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  6. "Week Ending Oct. 18, 2009: Taylor Swift's Minor Miracle". Chart Watch. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  7. Grein, Paul (2009-06-03). "Week Ending May 31, 2009: "Boom Boom Pow" Sets Digital Record". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 2009-06-03.
  8. Rascal Flatts news, Rascalflatts.com
  9. "Best of 2010 - Billboard Top 200". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  10. "Best of 2010 - Top Country Albums". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  11. Whitburn, Joel (2011). Top Pop Singles 1955–2010. Record Research, Inc. p. 732. ISBN 0-89820-188-8.
  12. "American album certifications – Rascal Flatts – Unstoppable". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
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