Universal Music Group continues to lead the industry, closing in on the end of the
year with unprecedented chart success and market share dominance. UMG has an
impressive year-to-date current album market share this week of 30.88%, according
to SoundScan and has also achieved a single-week current album market share of
39.79%, further indication of its leadership position. UMG holds the #1 spot on more
than 30 charts, including SoundScan Top Current Albums, R&B Current Album, Top
Catalog Albums, Top Soundtrack and YTD Top Rap Album, among others.
UMG dominated the top 5 positions in the Current Albums chart for week- ending
November 24, 2002. The company leads the industry with the country's best-selling
album, Shania Twain "UP!" (Mercury Nashville) which debuted in the top position.
Rounding out the top 5 are "NOW That's What I Call Music 11" (Universal Music
Enterprises)[No. 2]; "8 Mile" Soundtrack (Shady/Interscope/UMG Soundtracks) [No.
3]; Ja Rule "The Last Temptation" (Murder Inc./Island Def Jam Music Group) [No. 4];
and Jay-Z "The Blueprint 2: The Gift &The Curse" (Roc-A-Fella) [No. 5]. Other top
position holders include Audioslave "Audioslave" (Epic/Interscope) [No. 7] and
Eminem "The Eminem Show" (Aftermath/Interscope) [No. 11], following an impressive
run in the top 10 for 25 consecutive weeks.
Interscope Geffen A&M Records and Island Def Jam Music Group continue to
contribute impressively to UMG's success. The two labels once again led the industry
in year-to-date current album market share with 9.77% for Interscope Geffen A&M
Records and 8.29% for Island Def Jam Music Group.
"This year has been a remarkable year for us and I am very proud of our label
executives," commented UMG chairman and chief executive officer Doug Morris.
"The dedication and creativity of our label heads as well as our extraordinarily talented
artist roster is the key to UMG's success."
UMG also has the top 3 selling albums year-to-date in the U.S. according to
SoundScan. Eminem "The Eminem Show" remains the year's leader with nearly 7
million in sales. Nelly "Nellyville" (Universal) and Ashanti "Ashanti" (Murder
Inc./Island Def Jam Music Group) round out the top 3 with sales of 4.1 million and 2.8
million respectively. Moreover, UMVD represents 59% of this year's top 10 Albums
and has held either the No. 1 or No. 2 positions on the Top Current Albums chart for
33 of the past 47 weeks (70%).
UMG has two top albums in the top 10 of the Latin Albums chart, Enrique Iglesias
"Quizas" (Universal Latin) and "Juanes Un Dia Normal" (Universal Latin). UMVD is
currently the #2 Latin music distributor in the U.S. with a market share of 22.87%
(week-ending 11/24), rising from 5th place just 18 months ago.
"We are thrilled to see our market share continue to grow, and we remain committed
to our labels and artists," added Jim Urie, president, Universal Music &Video
Distribution. "We are extremely optimistic about our success for the remainder of the
year."
This week's record-breaking achievement builds upon the ongoing success of UMG in
2002. UMG had an impressive 7 of the top 10 albums in the Top Current Album chart
for week-ending April 7, 2002. On June 5, 2002, UMG achieved a record-setting
weekly market share of 41.53% that was led by Eminem's "The Eminem Show." On
July 3, UMG's year-to-date current album market share exceeded 30%. Universal
Music and Video Distribution was also named Distributor of the Year by the National
Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) for the second year in a row.
