and is yet to peak lower than the top 10 more than 40 weeks after its release. Taking the Long Way came in at #20 on the Australian End Of Year Album Charts for 2006. It also finished at #1 on the Australian End Of Year Country Charts for 2006; the lead single "Not Ready To Make Nice", finished at #96 on the End Of Year Single Charts. As of January 2007, Taking the Long Way is certified 2x platinum by the RIAA in the U.S. Many people say that the drop in album sales is due to radio airplay, or lack thereof, which is partly correct. However, a decline in album sales across the board makes up for much of the difference. Right after the Dixie Chicks won five Grammy Awards and performed "Not Ready to Make Nice" at the 49th ceremony, the album and the single reached the #1 spot on the U.S. iTunes Music Store. On February 21, it was announced by Billboard that the album sales increased 714% (rocketing from position #72 to #8) with sales of 103,000 copies, compared with only 12,700 copies sold on the week before. On the Canadian charts, the post-Grammy Awards week saw the album rocket up from position #27 to #5, with 9,000 copies sold. Taking The Long Way was very successful in Europe, which has never been an easy market for country music, reaching the top position in Sweden and entering in the top ten in Germany(#5), Austria (#7), Switzerland (#6), Ireland (#7), Norway (#6) and in the UK (#10), becoming their most successful album in Europe to date. Critical reception The album received positive reviews from critics and fans alike, who praised the trio for their deeper, darker sound and their defiant stance on the controversy that had taken place. The website Metacritic gave the album a score of 72 out of 100 based on 18 reviews, signifying generally favorable reviews. According to the website, it is behind Home as the second most well-rated album of the band by the critics. USA Today gave it a score of all four stars and said that the songs "Lullaby", "So Hard", and "Voice Inside My Head" "are just three out of the album's 14 reasons to still love this group or, at the very least, to still find them incredibly impressive." The Austin Chronicle gave it three-and-a-half stars out of