Wal-Mart Recognizes Garth Brooks as Its All-Time Top-Selling Music Artist

Wal-Mart Recognizes Garth Brooks as Its All-Time Top-Selling Music Artist

Artist of the Century Makes History for World's Largest Retailer as Most Limited Production Release to Date Is Ready to Launch

BENTONVILLE, Ark., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) today announced that Garth Brooks, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Artist of the Century, has made history as the company's top selling music artist of all time. With nearly 20 million discs sold at Wal-Mart in the first year of his exclusive relationship with the retailer, Brooks has been able to transcend his retirement and continue his history- making performances.

The milestone comes just days prior to the launch of the artist's most limited production release to date. The latest exclusive offering from singer/songwriter Brooks is a limited five DVD set, appropriately titled Garth Brooks: The Entertainer. This limited edition has already become the number one pre-order item on Walmart.com Music in 2006. Last year's boxed set release, Garth Brooks: The Limited Series, sold half a million copies in its first day of availability. With only one million copies available, fans can purchase Garth Brooks: The Entertainer beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Nov. 1 at 24-hour Wal-Mart locations.

"Garth Brooks' performances are history-making in of themselves and we're thrilled to be able to bring our customers and his fans a chance to see them again through this upcoming limited DVD set release," said David Porter, Wal-Mart vice president and divisional merchandise manager. "This release is very limited, and with the popularity of Garth's last boxed set, we anticipate the demand for this DVD set to be amazing as well!"

Garth Brooks: The Entertainer contains more than seven hours of entertainment and highlights history-making performances in the form of 15 music videos, including three never-before-seen videos. Widely-acclaimed concert footage includes This is Garth Brooks (Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas- 1991), This is Garth Brooks, Too! (Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas-1993), Live From Dublin (Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland-1997) and Live From Central Park (New York, NY-1997).

Garth Brooks: The Entertainer five DVD set is available beginning Nov. 1 at all Wal-Mart stores, SAM'S CLUB locations and http://www.walmart.com/garthbrooks for $19.96 while quantities last.

Being named the top-selling music artist at Wal-Mart is not the only record that Brooks has set for the company. In the past year:

* Brooks made history at Walmart.com (http://www.walmart.com/ ) after
preorders of Garth Brooks: The Limited Series boxed set attained
record-breaking results by becoming the fastest selling media title on
the site;
* Garth Brooks: The Limited Series boxed set achieved Wal-Mart's highest
volume of sales ever for the first day of a musical release with more
than half a million copies sold;
* Garth Brooks: The Limited Series became the top selling music item in
company history;
* After only two weeks, Garth Brooks: The Limited Series boxed set passed
the one million benchmark for complete boxed sets sold (6 million
discs).

Brooks has seen seven albums bow at No. 1, more than any other recording act and is the all-time biggest-selling solo artist with 25 number one singles on the country charts. Garth Brooks: The Limited Series boxed set has passed the two million benchmark for complete boxed sets sold (12 million discs) making it the top selling music item in company history. Garth Brooks: The Limited Series boxed set was exclusively available at Wal-Mart and SAM'S CLUB locations throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Garth Brooks fans can currently pre-order Garth Brooks: The Entertainer and Brooks' complete CD collection at http://www.walmart.com/garthbrooks .

About Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Every week, more than 176 million customers visit Wal-Mart Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, SAM'S Clubs or a subsidiary location in 15 countries around the world. In each of the countries where Wal-Mart operates, the company and its Foundation are committed to a philosophy of operating globally and giving back locally. Wal-Mart is proud to support the causes that are important to customers and associates right in their own neighborhoods, and last year gave more than $270 million to these local communities. To learn more, visit http://www.walmartfacts.com/ , http://www.walmart.com/ or http://www.walmartfoundation.org/ .

FCMN Contact: pauline.tureman@wal-mart.com

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010831/WALMARTLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

CONTACT: Karen Burk of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., +1-800-331-0085

Web site: http://www.walmart.com/
http://www.walmartfacts.com/
http://www.walmartfoundation.org/
http://www.walmart.com/garthbrooks

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