Supergroups Dominate 2007 Music Sales

It’s taken two of the music industry’s international giants to knock New Zealand’s favourite classical artist from the top of the 2007 album charts. Led Zeppelin’s ‘Mothership’ and The Eagles’ ‘Long Road Out of Eden’ are last year’s top and third-best selling albums for 2007, sandwiching Paul Potts’ ‘One Chance’ at number two according to final figures released today. Despite being in The Chart for only seven and nine weeks respectively, ‘Mothership’ and ‘Long Road’ displace Hayley Westenra’s ‘Treasure’ – 27 weeks in The Chart – from #1 to #4. Three new local albums make the top 20 following the Christmas rush. The soundtrack for popular local TV show Outrageous Fortune finishes the year at #9, OpShop’s ‘Second Hand Planet’ is in at #15 and “The Man, The Legend” by Prince Tui Teka is #20 after only four weeks on the chart. Brooke Fraser and Hollie Smith move down the charts following December sales. Brooke’s ‘Albertine’ drops four places to #8 and Hollie’s ‘Long Player’ is down three to #13. ‘Albertine’ spent 42 weeks in The Chart in 2007 and ‘Long Player’ 25 weeks. Brooke remains at second place on the radio airplay chart for 2007, with her single “Shadowfeet”. Opshop is the only local to top any of the charts for 2007 as ‘Maybe’ remains the most played song on radio for 2007. On the singles front, Christmas sales have had less effect on the year’s final figures with the top eight artists retaining their early December positions. Top selling single for 2007 is ‘Umbrella’ from Rihanna featuring JayZ. Kiwi rockers Atlas cling to their hard-earned #6 spot with ‘Crawl’ while OpShop remains just outside the top 10 with ‘Maybe’ at #11. “It’s been a big Christmas for heritage artists,” says RIANZ CEO Campbell Smith. “There was no denying the Christmas pulling power of groups such as Led Zep and The Eagles.” ‘The Best of the Johnny Cash Show’ is the year’s top-selling DVD displacing Andre Rieu’s ‘New York Memories: Live at Radio City’ to #2. ‘Now That’s What I call Music 25’ replaces “Now That’s What I call Music 23” on top of the compilation list. The figures are compiled by Media Sauce Ltd for the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand and are for over-the-counter and legal digital sales for the calendar year to December 31, 2007 The full list of the nation’s favourite music for 2007 is:

Top 20 Albums

Based on over-the counter retail sales and legal digital sales during January 1- December 31, 2007.

Top 20 Singles

Based on over-the counter retail sales and legal digital sales during January 1- December 31, 2007.

Top 10 Radio Airplay

Based on radio airplay from January 1 – December 31, 2007.

Top 10 Compilations

Based on over-the counter retail sales and legal digital sales during January 1- December 31, 2007.

Top 10 DVDs

Based on over-the counter retail sales and legal digital sales during January 1- December 31, 2007.