Platinum Europe: Review 2001
Europe's million-selling albums hit six-year high; European repertoire dominates for sixth year running
| SEE ALSO |
| Platinum Europe qualifying artists of 2001 Statistical analysis Platinum Europe: 6-year Review |
Cannes, January 20, 2002 - Europe's most successful recording artists achieved 87 million-or multi-million-selling albums last year, taking the number of album titles honoured with the IFPI Platinum Europe Award to a six-year high.
Around 60% of Platinum-qualifying albums carried music by European artists, while Award winners came from 14 countries around the world.
The UK's Robbie Williams and Italy's Andrea Bocelli led the field with a million or more sales on three different albums each, while Dido was the fastest accumulator of Platinums in the year, with sales of over 4 million for her top-performing debut album No Angel.
The Platinum Europe Award, administered by the recording industry's international trade body IFPI, is the pre-eminent music industry sales award for the European music market. Platinum Europe honours artists who achieve one million sales in a region encompassing 31 different national markets between the Atlantic and the Urals.
Jay Berman, Chairman and CEO of IFPI says: "Last year was another outstanding year for the Platinum Europe Award, with more album titles selling a million-plus copies than in any other year of the Award's history. Platinum Europe is a tribute to the enormous success of recording artists in the region. In particular it highlights the success of European repertoire and the extraordinary diversity of the European music market."
Many artists saw earlier successes sustained into 2001, with previously-released albums extending their Platinum sales into a new year. One-third of all the Platinum-winning titles of 2001 (29 out of 87) were albums first awarded in 2000 or before.
The top multi-million-selling albums that continued their surge in 2001 were led by Shania Twain's Come on Over and Bon Jovi's Cross Road (each at 7 Platinums). Andrea Bocelli's Romanza, Supernatural by Santana, the Corrs' Talk on Corners and U2's The Best of 1980-1990 marked up 6 Platinums in 2001.
Debut Albums Fare Well
The year 2001, like 2000, was a particularly strong year for debut albums, led especially by the UK. Multi-Platinum British debut albums included Dido (No Angel), Craig David (Born To Do It), and Coldplay (Parachutes) and single Platinums for Toploader (Onka's Big Moka), and Gorillaz's self-titled Gorillaz.
In terms of genres nu-metal (such as Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit) and R&B (Destiny's Child, Anastacia, Jennifer Lopez) were especially strong among Europe's top-sellers in 2001. Singer-songwriters also feature highly in the 2001 list with artists as diverse as David Gray, Alicia Keys and Tracy Chapman.
European Success Story Continues
A six-year review of the Platinum Europe Award also confirms the steady year-on-year dominance of European repertoire among the continent's top-selling artists. European artists have maintained a share of 60% or more of all Platinum Europe albums since the launch of Platinum Europe in 1996.
In 2001, the European success story continued as albums from the UK and Ireland combined achieved the single highest share (39%) of Platinum winners, while France and Italy both saw their Platinum sales increase on previous years. There was an increase in qualifiers from the US (33% compared to 28% in 2000).
The number of non-English language million-selling albums was the highest last year since 1997, but, over the six-year period, English language repertoire has held a consistent share of around 80% of the continent's Platinum-qualifying albums.
Two new countries - Greece and Jamaica - joined the club of Platinum-qualifying countries in the year, taking the total to 14 - compared to 11 in 1997.
For further information please contact: Adrian Strain, Fiona Harley,
IFPI Communications, tel: +44 (0)20 7878 7900