EMI Music Marketing Claims Week's Top Three Album Debuts on Billboard's Top 200 Chart

EMI Music Marketing Claims Week's Top Three Album Debuts on Billboard's Top 200 Chart

Top 50 Debuts by Diana Ross, Al Green and Frank Sinatra Break Several Historical Sales and Chart Records

EMM Chart Presence Felt With Four Titles in Top 200

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Jan. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- EMI Music Marketing is proud to present the week's top three album debuts in the Top 50 of Billboard's Top 200 chart this week, all from iconic artists. The #32 debut of Diana Ross' new Manhattan/EMI album, I Love You, with first-week sales totaling 21,222, is the week's highest Top 200 chart debut, marking Ms. Ross' strongest sales week and highest chart debut in the SoundScan era. The #36 debut of Frank Sinatra's Romance: Songs From The Heart, a new Capitol/EMI collection of romantic songs from his Capitol concept albums, is his highest debut since 1993's Duets, with first-week sales totaling 18,940. Al Green's new Capitol/Hi hits collection, The Definitive Greatest Hits, debuts at #46, with 16,130 in first-week sales, marking his highest Top 200 chart debut and chart position ever in the SoundScan era, and his strongest catalog sales week to date.

In addition to the chart debuts, Capitol/EMI's Rocky Balboa: The Best Of Rocky, released December 26, remains in the Top 200 this week at #168.

At iTunes, Ms. Ross' I Love You peaked at #3 on iTunes' Top 100 R&B chart and at #47 on iTunes Overall Top 100 chart, while Mr. Green's The Definitive Greatest Hits reached #8 on the Top 100 R&B chart. At Amazon.com, Ms. Ross' I Love You reached the #41 position in overall popular music sales during its debut week, while Mr. Sinatra's Romance: Songs From The Heart reached #25 in Amazon's overall popular music sales.

Diana Ross is a global entertainment icon, a legendary musical treasure whose music has, for decades, inspired romance, happiness and joy. For her new studio album, Ms. Ross has drawn inspiration from romantic songs that have touched her heart through the years, and she has dedicated the album to this most powerful universal emotion: love. I Love You, released January 16 by Manhattan/EMI in CD and deluxe CD/DVD packages and digitally, presents 14 songs personally selected for the album by Diana Ross in appreciation of their timeless, classic expressions of love and romance, including a brand new song, "I Love You (That's All That Really Matters)," a gentle ballad that captures the emotion of romance.

On I Love You's January 16 release date, Ms. Ross made several special TV appearances, including an interview with Diane Sawyer and a three-song Winter Concert Series performance with her band on ABC's "Good Morning America," an interview and two-song performance on ABC's "Live With Regis & Kelly" and an interview and performance with her band on CBS' "The Late Show With David Letterman." Upcoming TV appearances include "Martha: The Martha Stewart Show" airing Friday, January 26, and a rare, two-hour "Inside The Actors Studio" special, premiering President's Day, Monday, February 19 on Bravo.

With a career that spanned more than six decades, Frank Sinatra was truly "The Entertainer of the 20th Century." A new collection from Capitol/EMI, Romance: Songs From The Heart gathers, for the first time in a single CD package, Sinatra's unrivaled Capitol Records-era studio classics about love and romance. Released January 16 on CD and digitally, Romance: Songs From The Heart collects 21 of Frank Sinatra's most romantic and heartfelt songs from his critically-acclaimed Capitol "concept" record period between 1953 and 1961. The new collection's digitally remastered tracks include a never before released version of "Nice 'N Easy" and "If You Are But A Dream," a rare track making its U.S. CD release debut. The CD package also includes newly-written liner notes by music producer and writer James Ritz.

In 2007, Al Green celebrates the 40th anniversary of his soul-transcendent music career. To commemorate the occasion, Al Green: The Definitive Greatest Hits, a new career-spanning collection of his most beloved and enduring hits, was released January 16 by Capitol/EMI Music Catalog Marketing in CD and deluxe CD/DVD packages and digitally. The collection's 21 tracks, all 24-bit digitally remastered, include six classic Hi Records-era Number One hits, "Let's Stay Together," "I'm Still In Love With You," "L-O-V-E," "Livin' For You," "You Ought To Be With Me," "Full Of Fire," and other career-defining tracks Green recorded for Hi and Blue Note. The CD package features new liner notes by Colin Escott and archive photos, and the deluxe CD/DVD adds six film and video clips, including TV performances from 1971, 1978 and 2004. In addition, six classic Al Green tracks made their ringtune debuts on January 16.

At #168 on Billboard's Top 200 chart this week is Rocky Balboa: The Best Of Rocky, Capitol/EMI's official soundtrack to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios,' Columbia Pictures' and Revolution Studios' new installment of one of the most successful American film franchises, Rocky. The soundtrack includes a new song by Academy Award(R) winners Three 6 Mafia and a new remix of Bill Conti's original Rocky hit "Gonna Fly Now" by John X. The new tracks are exclusive to this soundtrack release, complemented by a collection of hits and score selections spanning all five of the previous Rocky films, including Survivor's "Eye Of The Tiger" and James Brown's "Living In America." The soundtrack debuted at #109 and has remained on Billboard's Top 200 chart since its December 26 release.

Source: EMI Music Marketing

CONTACT: Jennifer Ballantyne of EMI Music Catalog Marketing,
+1-323-871-5494, jennifer.ballantyne@emicap.com

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