NEW YORK (EMI/ Universal/ Sony) - The people have spoken and their choice for No 1 is NOW That's What I Call Music! Volume 17. NOW That's What I Call Music! Volume 17 has debuted at the top of the Billboard Top 200 chart for the sixth time in the series' history, with first week sales of more than 407,731 units. Fueled by the tremendous first week sales of Volume 17, the complete NOW series - the most consistent multi-platinum-selling music brand today - is nearing sales of more than 50 million units to become the most successful multi-artist series of all time.
NOW is an unprecedented cooperative project between EMI Music, The Universal
Music Group, Sony BMG
Music Entertainment and the Zomba Group of labels. Since it was introduced in the United States six years ago, the series has been known as a harbinger of contemporary tastes and a reflection of the most popular music of the day. Nearly every single CD in the NOW That's What I Call
Music series has been certified platinum or multi-platinum, and NOW remains the most successful branded compilation ever launched in the music business, with continual, massive chart and sales successes.
"The tremendous first week sales for the latest NOW compilation demonstrate that music fans rely on the series to deliver consistently the best current track-listing of pop songs," says Andrew Slater, President and CEO of Capitol Records. "They so eagerly await each release that NOW has become a seasonal event."
"NOW 17, as with past editions, continues to outperform our projections," said Kerry Fly, Rock/Pop Product Manager for The Handleman Company. "With this installment, the NOW brand continues to go higher and higher."
"The NOW series is a great way to extend the fan base for key artists, while at the same time bringing expanded value to consumers," commented Michele Anthony, Chief Operating Officer, Sony
Music Label Group. "From
Franz Ferdinand to Lil' Flip,
Jessica Simpson, Gretchen Wilson, Switchfoot, and Crossfade, contributions from some of the best-selling Sony
Music Label Group artists of the year help to make Volume 17 yet another great installment in this highly successful series."
"With NOW approaching sales of 50 million since its inception, this demonstrates the strength of the brand at retail as well as consumers support of our consistent, quality product," said Bob Mercer, Senior Vice President, New Business & Artist Development for Universal
Music Enterprises.
Featuring 20 chart-topping hits such as "
My Place" by
Nelly with Jaheim, Beastie Boys' "Ch-Check It Out," "
Goodies" by
Ciara featuring Petey Pablo, Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out," "
Lean Back" by Terror
Squad featuring
Fat Joe & Remy and "
Days Go By" from Keith Urban, NOW That's What I Call Music, Volume 17 includes 12 tracks in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, 11 tracks in the Top 30 and seven tracks in the Top 10.
A companion DVD, NOW DVD 2 featuring the hottest music videos of the year including Hoobastank's "The Reason," "
Heaven" from Los Lonely Boys, "
Holidae In" from
Chingy featuring
Ludacris and Snoop Dogg, blink-182's "
Feeling This" and "
Sunrise" from Norah Jones, was also released on Nov 2nd and debuts at No 6 on the Top DVD/Music Video charts.
The series debuted in the United States in 1998 after the NOW brand had been an enormous, multi-platinum international success for nearly 20 years, with some 56 volumes featuring pop hits released in the UK alone. To date, the NOW series has generated sales of 135 million albums worldwide. Every album in the US NOW series has reached the Billboard Top 10 and five have now debuted at No 1 on the Billboard Top 200, making NOW the only non-soundtrack, multi-artist collection to occupy the top spot on this distinguished album sales chart.
NOW 4 became the first of its kind to debut at No 1 when it accomplished that feat in July of 2000. NOW 6 (March 2001), NOW 7 (July 2001) and NOW 9 (April 2002) also achieved No 1 debut status. The week of December 8, 2001 marked the first time two albums in one series were simultaneous Top 5 hits, When NOW That's What I Call Music, Volume 8! debuted at No 2 and the two CD set, NOW That's What I Call Christmas! Soared to No 3 in the Billboard Top 200 Chart.
More recently, NOW 16 debuted at No 1 in July 2004, and has sold more than 2 million copies, while NOW 15 debuted at No 2 in March of 2004 and is still in the Billboard Top 200 (No 198) with sales nearing 2 million.
