UNITED KINGDOM: Susan Boyle album goes on sale, sets pre-order record on Amazon and UK's HMV records

Record ID: 783937

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Susan Boyle album goes on sale, sets pre-order record on Amazon and UK's HMV records
  • Date: 27th November 2009
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE-APRIL 16, 2009) (REUTERS) YOUTUBE CLIP OF BOYLE'S PERFORMANCE ON BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT
  • Embargoed: 12th December 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVAA0QE9YHVVSEP0M9GTHLJ06X7K
  • Story Text: The debut album by British singing sensation Susan Boyle has gone on sale in the United Kingdom on Monday (November 24) and has become the largest global CD pre-order in the history of Amazon.com and HMV record store.
    Gennaro Castaldo, HMV's head of press and publicity expected the album to be one, if not the biggest releases of the year.
    "It's been very, very substantial. Over the last few weeks, HMV.com, our website, has received record pre-orders for an album, which has been reported by our retailers as well. And we've had customers coming into our store asking us when the (Susan Boyle) album is going to be released, obviously today's the day. We believe it's going to sell the best part of 300,000 copies this week, across the whole UK market, which will make it the biggest and fastest-selling week one release of the year. And it will give it huge momentum going into the final few weeks of the Christmas rush and give it a good chance of making it the Christmas number one album," he told Reuters Television.
    Boyle's album "I Dreamed a Dream" will be released on November 24 by Sony Music Entertainment in the United States. It is the first album since the dowdy 48 year-old church volunteer from Scotland took the Internet by storm with her unlikely star turn on the TV show "Britain's Got Talent" in April.
    Castaldo said there was no doubt Boyle's album will be number one in the UK this week.
    "Guaranteed the week coming up. She's up against Mariah Carey who has a new album out who any other week would be a sure fire number one as well. But it's very difficult to stop the Susan Boyle phenomenon right now. There's a lot of people who engage with her. A lot of people watched her on Britain's Got Talent show that she came to prominence through whether it was kids or grannies who voted and follow that loyalty through as well," he said.
    But Castaldo warned Boyle may soon ride out the hype machine if she's not careful.
    "Now the issue is whether she can really follow that up, whether she's going to be a one-hit wonder. And there's always a danger for these reality television stars that you get replaced by the next big thing that comes along. But Leona Lewis has demonstrated that if you've got the talent and the right approach, you can sustain. She's had two number one albums and I think she's set for long-term career success and there's no reason Susan Boyle can't do that either," he said.
    Amazon said on Thursday (November 19) that Boyle's album was not only the top CD pre-order in the United States, but also the biggest around the world in the 14-year history of it's web site.
    Boyle ultimately lost the final of "Britain's Got Talent" to a dance team, and she was afterward briefly admitted to a private British clinic for exhaustion.
    However she was signed to a record deal by "Britain's Got Talent" and "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell and performed one track from the album -- a cover of The Rolling Stone's hit "Wild Horses" -- on "America's Got Talent" in September.
    Castaldo said the last two months of the year were prime time for albums released appealing to families, mostly contestants from Britain's X-Factor reality tv show such as Alexandra Burke, who won last year and boy group JLS, who were runners-up.
    Coincidentally, Leona Lewis's album "Echo" is currently number one with X Factor's current contestants scoring the number one single for charity, a rendition of Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone".
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