Warner Records ends 2007 in top sales slot

MUMBAI: Warner Bros. Records ended 2007 with the number one US album market share among individual record labels for the year, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures released last week. The label also claims the number one market share in current albums and digital albums in a year when digital album sales are up 53 per cent over the previous year with 50 million albums being sold.  Three of Warner Bros.’ record artists have also finished the year as the top ten best-selling artists of 2007. Josh Groban has emerged at Number 1 with 4.83 million albums sold, a figure that includes the multi-platinum Awake and Groban’s Christmas blockbuster Noël, which was the top-selling album of the year with sales of 3.7 million. The first holiday album in the history of SoundScan to hold the top position on the year-end chart, Noël spent five consecutive weeks at number one on the album chart. Linkin Park and Michael Bublé finished at Number 7 and Number 8, respectively. Linkin Park’s Minutes to Midnight was the seventh best-selling album of the year with nearly 2.1 million copies sold. Bublé sold 2.53 million units in 2007, a figure that includes his latest smash Call Me Irresponsible. Digital music enjoyed major sales increases in 2007, with more than 840 million tracks purchased industry-wide. Linkin Park’s Minutes to Midnight was the sixth best-selling digital album of the year, selling 189,000 downloads, while the band itself is the tenth best-selling digital artist with 4.3 million units sold. Other Warner Bros. Records artists in the top 20 digital albums include Josh Groban at Number 13 and the White Stripes at Number 14.  Forthcoming releases from the company include albums from Madonna, Metallica, R.E.M., Disturbed, Josh Groban, the Raconteurs, Muse, Idina Menzel, Jack’s Mannequin, The Veronicas, MURS, Taking Back Sunday, Mike Jones, The Black Keys, k.d. lang, Emmylou Harris, T Bone Burnett and others.