LOS ANGELES, CA. (Napster) - Napster, the pioneer of digital music, today announced the winners of the "2006 Napster Awards," the first awards to honor artists and songs for accomplishments in digital music. In contrast to other music industry awards, the Napster Awards are determined by the actual listening behavior of music fans who subscribe to Napster's industry-leading subscription service and play over one billion songs each year. Presented to the artists and songs that enjoyed the highest number of plays in the service between December 1, 2005 and November 30, 2006, the Napster Awards illustrate that there is a significant difference between the music that sells the most and the music that's played the most when fans are in an unlimited access music subscription environment.
The 2006 Napster Award for "Most-Played Artist" went to singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, whose mellow acoustic grooves were a huge hit among Napster's half a million subscribers who played his music more than any other artist's. The Napster Award for "Most-Played Song" went to the pop/punk single "Dance, Dance" from Chicago's Fall Out Boy. Punctuating the difference between sales figures and subscriber plays, Jack Johnson, Napster's most played artist, was not recognized by the 2006 Billboard Music Awards which track sales and radio airplay and "Dance, Dance," Napster's most played song, was not among the top 10 tracks sold on iTunes in 2006.
Napster subscribers have on-demand, unlimited access to over 3 million full-length songs for one monthly fee without paying a dollar a track, so their listening activities are a measure of the songs and artists they actively chose to play most over the past year. Napster calculated the total number of plays of each song and artist in its vast catalog over the past year in each of the five countries where it offers its PC-based service to determine the recipients of the 2006 Napster Awards. Napster also created categories that go beyond the mainstream in order to reflect the diversity of music that fans chose when they had the freedom to discover, explore and enjoy without limits.
Underscoring that diversity and recognizing the importance of unsigned artists to Napster's subscribers, Napster is honoring Southern California Hip Hop artist Jadox for being the service's "Most Played Self Published Artist." Napster's massive database revealed that Scott Joplin was the most played artist whose last recorded release was the longest time ago, earning the ragtime legend a posthumous "Unstoppable Artist" award. Napster is also honoring the artist that had the most substantial increase in plays year over year with the "Breakout Artist" award, earned this year by digital phenoms Arctic Monkeys.
"The Napster Awards provide insight into how music fans behave when they can listen to an enormous variety of music away from restrictive radio playlists, limited retail shelf space and 30-second clip, buck a track digital stores," said Chris Gorog, chairman and CEO of Napster. "When consumers are given unlimited access to music and are freed from having to pay for each individual song in order to hear it, it's interesting to see how this freedom changes what they want to actually listen to. We congratulate all of the 2006 Napster Award winners, and look forward to continuing to honor the music Napster subscribers enjoy playing the most."
Each Napster Award recipient will receive an impressive trophy featuring the infamous Napster Kitty(R) acknowledging their accomplishment. In celebration of the inaugural year of the Napster Awards, Napster is currently featuring a playlist which showcases many of the award-winning artists and songs on its Web site that U.S. music fans can stream for free at https://www.napster.com/free. As always, Napster subscribers in all territories can enjoy the playlist in CD-quality sound and on-demand through the Napster application. To learn more about Napster's subscription service, please visit https://www.napster.com.
Complete List of 2006 Napster Award Winners:
Napster U.S.
Most-Played Artist Jack Johnson
Most-Played Song "Dance, Dance" by Fall Out Boy
Most-Played New Artist Carrie Underwood
Most-Played NapsterLive Session Natasha Bedingfield
Rising Star Arctic Monkeys
Most-Played Self-Published Artist Jadox
Unstoppable Artist Scott Joplin
Most-Played Cover Song "One" by Cowboy Junkies (originally performed by U2)
Most-Played Alternative Artist Coldplay
Most-Played Alternative Song "Dance, Dance" by Fall Out Boy
Most-Played Blues Artist Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
Most-Played Blues Song "The Thrill Is Gone" by B.B. King
Most-Played Christian Artist Third Day
Most-Played Christian Song "Dare You to Move" by Switchfoot
Most-Played Classical Artist Andrea Bocelli
Most-Played Classical Recording "Time to Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro)" by Andrea Bocelli
Most-Played Comedy Artist Weird Al Yankovic
Most-Played Comedy Recording "White & Nerdy" by Weird Al Yankovic
Most-Played Country Artist Rascal Flatts
Most-Played Country Song "What Hurts the Most" by Rascal Flatts
Most-Played Dance/Electronic Artist Madonna
Most-Played Dance/Electronic Recording "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada
Most-Played Folk Artist Damien Rice
Most-Played Folk Song "The Blower's Daughter" by Damien Rice
Most-Played Hip-Hop Artist Eminem
Most-Played Hip-Hop Song "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire
Most-Played Jazz Artist Norah Jones
Most-Played Jazz Recording "Come Away with Me" by Norah Jones
Most-Played Latin Artist Shakira
Most-Played Latin Song "Whenever, Wherever" by Shakira
Most-Played Pop Artist Jack Johnson
Most-Played Pop Song "Move Along" by All American Rejects
Most-Played R&B Artist Mary J. Blige
Most-Played R&B Song "Unfaithful" by Rihanna
Most-Played Reggae Artist Sean Paul
Most-Played Reggae Song "Temperature" by Sean Paul
Most-Played Rock Artist Nickelback
Most-Played Rock Song "Dance, Dance" by Fall Out Boy
Most-Played World Artist Enya
Most-Played World Song "Only Time" by Enya
Napster U.K.
Most-Played Artist Snow Patrol
Most-Played Song "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley
Most-Played New Artist Arctic Monkeys
Most-Played NapsterLive Session The Feeling
Rising Star Infernal
Most-Played Self-Published Artist Suzanne Ciani
Unstoppable Artist Frank Sinatra
Most-Played Cover Song "One" by Mary J. Blige (originally performed by U2)
Napster Germany
Most-Played Artist Nelly Furtado
Most-Played Song "No, No, Never" by Texas Lightning
Most-Played New Artist Texas Lightning
Most-Played NapsterLive Session Akon
Rising Star Chamillionaire
Most-Played Self-Published Artist Humberto y Sus Amigos
Unstoppable Artist Elvis Presley
Most-Played Cover Song "One" by Mary J. Blige (originally performed by U2)
Napster Canada
Most-Played Artist Coldplay
Most-Played Song "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt
Most-Played New Artist Gnarls Barkley
Most-Played NapsterLive Session Default
Rising Star KT Tunstall
Most-Played Self-Published Artist David Barela
Unstoppable Artist Johnny Cash
Most-Played Cover Song "The First Cut Is the Deepest" by Sheryl Crow (originally performed by Cat Stevens)
