Congratulations to Jake Owen, whose new, four-song Endless Summer EP scored this week’s highest debut on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums sales chart, debuting at number-two and scoring big with online fans, becoming the number-one digital country album of the week! The EP was a project that Jake envisioned as something fun and cool to offer his fans — a chance to share some of the musical spirit of summer as well as a few new songs since the release of his Barefoot Blue Jean Night album last year. And now, the success of the EP is one more thing that Jake says is really making him feel that — after years of being in Nashville — more than ever, people have really begun to care about the music he makes. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• Look for Jake’s Endless Summer EP at your favorite music seller, including right here, on iTunes.
• Next week, Jake kicks-off his first-ever headlining tour, officially titled CMT ON TOUR JAKE OWEN: THE SUMMER NEVER ENDS 2012. Together with special guests Love and Theft and Florida Georgia Line, the tour launches in New York City this coming Wednesday, October 10th! For complete dates and ticket information, visit cmtontour.cmt.com.
• And one of the cool things about the success of Jake’s new EP is that it doesn’t even have a radio single behind it! Jake’s current Top-10-and-climbing smash is the terrific “The One That Got Away,” the third huge hit behind back-to-back number-one singles from Jake’s Barefoot Blue Jean Night album.

  Jake Owen says that it’s an amazing feeling to see the success of his new Endless Summer EP. (1:06)
“I’ve been at the point in my career and life — and not just music, but many instances where you want people to care. Like, I remember, like, the reason I left Tallahassee, Florida, early — left my twin brother there, all my friends, dropped out of college with nine hours of school left — and moved to Nashville is ’cause I wanted people to care. I wanted to sing my songs. I wanted to sing songs that were about my life. I wanted to be an artist, but I wanted people to care about what I was doing. And I moved to Nashville — it’s taken me this six, seven, eight, nine years of my life to build a brand of who I am and what I’m all about. And to put out an EP now, or an album — whether it’s Barefoot Blue Jean Night or this new Endless Summer EP — and see the reaction to it, completely now fills that feeling that I always wanted. It’s validation that people do respect what I’m doing, and they want to hear what I’m doing, and they care. And now they’re waiting to see what it is that you’re gonna bring to the table, and you know, you can’t bring somethin’ that doesn’t taste good to the table. You gotta keep on bringin’ the yummy treats, man. So I gotta bring some yummy treats!”