Arista's Record Earnings...
Arista Posts Best 6-Month Sales Ever,
Over $300 Million; Includes Best Quarter Ever, Over $210 Million, and Two Biggest Sales
Months in History.
Success Is Underscored by 45 Grammy Nominations Last Week, Led by Santana, Whitney
Houston, TLC, Sarah McLachlan, and Barry Manilow.
NEW YORK, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Following news of Arista's record-breaking tally of 45
Grammy nominations last week -- as Santana made headlines around the world with 11
nominations and Clive Davis (himself nominated for three awards as producer with Carlos
Santana and Whitney Houston) was named recipient of Grammy's prestigious Trustees Award --
comes the announcement that Arista finished calendar year 1999 with the biggest six month
sales in the company's 25-year history, over $300 million, incorporating the biggest
quarter ever, over $210 million in billing for the three-month period ending December 31.
This extraordinary figure encompasses the single biggest sales month in Arista history,
November, accounting for $85 million in business, nearly $20 million more than the label's
second biggest sales month ever, which occurred the following month in December, with $66
million.
"We are thrilled with the performance that Arista has achieved over the last 12
months," says Charles Goldstuck, Executive Vice President & General Manager,
Arista Records, "and have a great upcoming release schedule."
An important share of this success goes to Santana, the story of 1999, whose Supernatural
album (their first #1 album since 1971) reached 6-times platinum in less than six months.
It was bolstered by "Smooth," co-written by and featuring Rob Thomas of matchbox
20, not only the first #1 single of Santana's career, but Soundscan's longest-running #1
pop single of the year at 12 consecutive weeks.
Also contributing to Arista's outstanding results for the
past quarter (and for 1999 in general) were 7-time Grammy nominee Whitney Houston. My Love
Is Your Love, her first non-soundtrack related studio album in eight years, is certified
double-platinum in the U.S. with international sales in excess of 8 million copies. The
album contains four pop/R&B crossover hits: "It's Not Right, But It's Okay,"
the title-tune single "My Love Is Your Love," "Heartbreak Hotel," and
Whitney's historic duet with Mariah Carey on "When You Believe" (from The Prince
Of Egypt).
8-time Grammy nominee LaFace/Arista recording group TLC had the honor of being the label's
first success story of 1999. Their long-awaited third album Fanmail, released in February,
was recently certified 5-times platinum. The first single, "No Scrubs," an RIAA
gold #1 pop/R&B hit, boasted the largest radio audience for any new single in history.
The second single, "Unpretty," also gold, was a top of the chart hit as well.
3-time Grammy nominee Sarah McLachlan released the first live solo album of her career,
Mirrorball, which stands at double-platinum. Its top 15 pop hit, "I Will Remember
You," has the distinction of being the only live song on Billboard's year-end list of
the top Hot 100 singles of 1999.
1999 also saw back-to-back new albums by Kenny G: Classics In the Key Of G (released in
June) spent more than 20 weeks at #1 on the Contemporary Jazz chart and was certified
gold; Faith -- A Holiday Album (released in November) ended the year at #1 on the seasonal
Top Christmas Albums chart, the long-awaited follow-up to 1994's 8x-platinum Miracles --
The Holiday Album, the biggest-selling seasonal album in history.
Newcomers LFO courted the teen market with their #1 Soundscan single, "Summer
Girls," which turned into platinum for their self-titled debut album. Clive Davis and
Arista made recording history with the signing of The Artist, who released Rave Un2 The
Joy Fantastic, one of the most critically acclaimed albums of his career, featuring the
top 20 R&B hit, "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold." The Eurythmics, Annie
Lennox and Dave Stewart, also returned to the front lines with Peace, their first album in
ten years, which yielded the #1 Dance single, "Seventeen Again."
Among the artists introduced on Arista in 1999 was the 14-year-old guitar sensation from
Minneapolis, Shannon Curfman, who arrived with Loud Guitars, Big Suspicions. On the other
side of the spectrum, veteran '80s/'90s R&B singer Angie Stone wound up on every major
critic's top 10 list for the year on the basis of her riveting debut solo album Black
Diamond, featuring the top 20 R&B hit "No More Rain (In This Cloud)."
NEWSFILE: 12 JANUARY 2000
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