A Cornucopia Of New Albums
It's that time of year when record companies produce albums to take advantage of the holidays. A sampling from this year includes a new Metallica album recorded with the San Francisco Symphony, Dave Matthews on PBS and Celine Dion's greatest hits release.
On The Early Show, Mike Tierney, VH1 vice president of music programming, explains.
Near the end of the year, a lot of big names release CDs, Tierney says. This gives large record companies a last chance to add money to their books while everybody is in the stores during the Christmas shopping season, he adds.
The top albums from Soundscan appearing in Billboard magazine on Dec. 3 are:
| TOP FIVE ALBUMS | |||
| 1. | Celine Dion | All The Way... A Decade Of Songs | |
| 2. | Metallica | S & M | |
| 3. | Dr. Dre | Dr. Dre 2001 | |
| 4. | Backstreet Boys | Millennium | |
| 5. | Korn | Issues | |
Some other big name artists releasing albums this month include Will Smith, Mariah Carey, Faith Hill, Fiona Apple, Garth Brooks, Beastie Boys, Beck, Reba McEntire, Dave Matthews, Kenny G, Andrea Bocelli, The Artist and REM.
Santana is still the big story in music, says Tierney. "That's the album that you can buy for anybody on your Christmas list this year, as long as they don't already have it. It's uniting a couple of generations of fans."
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The rap group DMX is releasing a new album the day after Christmas. Because its lyrics are filled with profanity and violence, parents aren't likely to choose the album as a gift for kids. So, the record label is hoping kids will either exchange CDs their parents gave them, or use their holiday money to make the purchase.
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