10% Growth in Overall Music Sales; Digital Track Sales Exceed 120% Growth

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nielsen SoundScan Canada, the entertainment industry's data information system that tracks point-of-purchase sales of recorded music product and Nielsen BDS, the music industry’s leading music performance monitoring service, have announced their 2006 Canadian year-end sales and airplay monitoring data, for the 52-week period January 2, 2006 through December 31, 2006.

OVERALL MUSIC SALES (01/02/06 – 12/31/06) (ALBUMS,SINGLES, MUSIC VIDEO, DIGITAL TRACKS – IN MILLIONS)

UNITS SOLD	2006	2005	% Chg.

	64.1	58.4	9.8%

TOTAL ALBUM SALES (01/02/06 - 12/31/06) (INCLUDES CD, CS, LP, DIGITAL ALBUMS - IN MILLIONS)

UNITS SOLD	2006	2005	% Chg.

	46.2	48.5	-4.7%

DIGITAL TRACK SALES (01/02/2006 – 12/31/2006 - SALES IN MILLIONS)

UNITS SOLD	2006	2005	% CHG.

	14.9	6.7	122%

OVERALL ALBUM SALES (01/02/06 – 12/31/06) (ALL ALBUMS & TRACK EQUIVALENT ALBUMS - IN MILLIONS)

UNITS SOLD	2006	2005	% Chg.

	47.7	49.3	-3.2%

DIGITAL ALBUM SALES (01/02/2006 – 12/31/2006 – IN THOUSANDS:)

UNITS SOLD	2006	2005	% CHG.

	1,029	462	122%

2006 GENRE ALBUM SALES REPORT (Sales In Millions: 01/02/06-12/31/06)				CURRENT VS. CATALOG ALBUM SALES (Sales In Millions: 01/02/06-12/31/06)

Genre	2006	2005	% Chg.	Overall Albums	2006	2005	% Chg.
Alternative	9,851	11,837	-16.8%	Current	27.6	29.2	-5.5%
Classical	1,850	1,534	20.6%	Catalog	18.6	19.4	-4.1%
Country	3,866	3,350	15.4%	Deep Catalog	11.8	12.1	-2.5%
Jazz	1,577	1,979	-20.3%
Metal	5,284	5,954	-11.3%	Physical Albums:	2006	2005	% Chg.
R&B	4,028	5,865	-31.3%	Current	27.0	29.0	-6.8%
Rap	2,413	3,696	-34.7%	Catalog	18.2	19.1	-4.7%
				Deep Catalog	11.5	11.9	-3.4%
(Note: Titles may appear in more than one genre.)
				Digital Albums: (000’s)	2006	2005	% Chg.
				Current	632	252	151%
				Catalog	397	210	47%
				Deep Catalog	257	151	70%

2006 YEAR-TO-DATE RECORD COMPANY MARKET SHARE (1/02/06 - 12/31/06) (reflects the market share for the entire entity including sub-distributed companies)

TOTAL ALBUMS (Catalog & Current Titles)			CURRENT ALBUMS			CATALOG ALBUMS

	2006	2005		2006	2005		2006	2005
UMG	35.73%	36.18%	UMG	36.24%	37.05%	UMG	34.97%	34.87%
BMG	10.67%	10.12%	BMG	13.70%	12.05%	BMG	6.16%	7.19%
SONY	10.89%	10.58%	SONY	10.67%	9.62%	SONY	11.22%	12.04%
SONYBMG Total	21.56%	20.70%	SONYBMG Total	24.37%	21.67%	SONYBMG Total	17.38%	19.23%
WMG	14.51%	15.25%	WMG	13.58%	15.13%	WMG	15.90%	15.44%
EMI	9.86%	10.98%	EMI	8.15%	10.08%	EMI	12.41%	12.35%
OTHERS	18.34%	16.88%	OTHERS	17.66%	16.07%	OTHERS	19.35%	18.11%

2006 YEAR-TO-DATE RECORD COMPANY MARKET SHARE continued…(1/02/06 - 12/31/06) (reflects the market share for the entire entity including sub-distributed companies)

DIGITAL ALBUMS			DIGITAL TRACKS
	2006	2005		2006	2005
UMG	35.05%	39.68%	UMG	36.04%	34.13%
BMG	10.31%	10.68%	BMG	9.74%	10.65%
SONY	7.76%	7.77%	SONY	11.76%	12.59%
SONYBMG Total	18.07%	18.45%	SONYBMG Total	21.50%	23.24%
WMG	16.97%	14.98%	WMG	18.94%	18.24%
EMI	12.68%	13.20%	EMI	9.03%	10.55%
OTHERS	17.24%	13.68%	OTHERS	14.50%	13.85%

2006 TOP TEN SELLING ALBUMS (01/02/2006-12/31/2006)				2006 TOP TEN SELLING ARTISTS (based on Album sales from 01/02/2006-12/31/2006)

	Title/Artist	Units Sold		Artist	Units Sold
1	Back to Bedlam/ James Blunt	456,281	1	Johnny Cash	544,598
2	Taking the Long Way/ Dixie Chicks	292,639	2	Il Divo	540,707
3	Loose/ Nelly Furtado	291,673	3	James Blunt	456,281
4	I Think Of You/ Gregory Charles	260,653	4	Crazy Frog	374,620
5	It’s Time/ Michael Buble	237,453	5	Beatles	349,853
6	Stadium Arcadium/ Red Hot Chili Peppers	232,808	6	Dixie Chicks	349,261
7	All the Right Reasons/ Nickelback	231,244	7	Michael Buble	325,345
8	Futuresex/Love Sounds/ Justin Timberlake	230,852	8	Nelly Furtado	312,578
9	Wintersong/ Sarah McLachlan	226,567	9	Red Hot Chili Peppers	294,176
10.	Crazy Hits/ Crazy Frog	207,250	10.	Nickelback	285,448

2006 TOP TEN SELLING DIGITAL TRACKS (01/02/2006-12/31/2006)
	Title/Artist	Units Sold
1	Sexyback/ Justin Timberlake	55,389
2	Hips Don’t Lie/ Shakira	51,784
3	Dani California(Alb. Vers.)/ Red Hot Chili	45,501
4	You’re Beautiful/ James Blunt	43,404
5	Chasing Cars/ Snow Patrol	43,253
6	SOS/ Rihanna	42,880
7	Crazy(Alb. Version)/ Gnarls Barkley	42,593
8	Maneater/ Nelly Furtado	38,751
9	Lips Of An Angel/ Hinder	37,604
10.	Promiscuous/ Nelly Furtado	37,086

2006 TOP TEN SELLING DIGITAL SONGS (combines all versions of the same Song: 01/02/06 – 12/31/2006)				TOP TEN SELLING DIGITAL ALBUMS (01/02/2006-12/31/2006)
	Title/Artist	Units Sold		Artist	Units Sold
1	You’re Beautiful/ James Blunt	73,841	1	Wintersong/ Sarah McLachlan	9,873
2	Promiscuous/ Nelly Furtado	66,607	2	Stadium Arcadium/ Red Hot Chili Peppers	8,595
3	Hung Up/ Madonna	61,652	3	Taking the Long Way/ Dixie Chicks	6,732
4	Sexyback/ Justin Timberlake	59,745	4	Continuum/ John Mayer	6,644
5	Hips Don’t Lie/ Shakira	53,081	5	Back to Bedlam/ James Blunt	6,586
6	Gold Digger/ Kanye West	52,803	6	Sam’s Town/ Killers	6,276
7	Crazy/ Gnarls Barkley	52,487	7	Loose/ Nelly Furtado	6,113
8	Pon De Replay/ Rihanna	46,968	8	Curious George: Singalongs../Jack Johnson & Friends	6,059
9	Dani California/ Red Hot Chili Peppers	45,501	9	Eyes Open/ Snow Patrol	5,874
10.	Chasing Cars/ Snow Patrol	44,518	10.	Futuresex/Love Sounds/ Justin Timberlake	5,126

2006 TOP TEN SELLING ALBUMS OF SOUNDSCAN ERA (1995 – 12/31/2006)			TOP TEN SELLING ARTISTS OF SOUNDSCAN ERA (1995 – 12/31/2006)
	Title/Artist	Units Sold		Artist	Units Sold
1	Come on Over/ Shania Twain	1,912,641	1	Celine Dion	6,225,022
2	Let’s Talk About Love/ Celine Dion	1,482,452	2	Shania Twain	4,176,983
3	Big Shiny Tunes 2/ Various Artists	1,232,738	3	Backstreet Boys	4,035,368
4	Romanza/ Andrea Bocelli	1,109,788	4	U2	3,250,254
5	Up!/ Shania Twain	1,081,414	5	Sarah McLachlan	2,920,084
6	Aquarium/ Aqua	1,080,619	6	Eminem	2,850,796
7	Millennium/ Backstreet Boys	1,071,820	7	Beatles	2,664,824
8	Surfacing/ Sarah McLachlan	1,066,548	8	Andrea Bocelli	2,545,278
9	Backstreet’s Back/ Backstreet Boys	1,047,896	9	Diana Krall	2,485,971
10.	1/ Beatles	1,035,111	10.	Britney Spears	2,371,993

2006 Year End Factoids:

Overall music purchases were up nearly 10% from 2005 .
Nearly 15 million digital tracks were purchased; an increase of 122% over 2005.
The top 200 tracks accounted for nearly 20% of all track purchases; 2.8 million sales, note that this is consistent with 2005.
Johnny Cash was the biggest selling artist with physical album sales surpassing 540,000.
34% of all albums purchased were at a Mass Merchant outlet compared to 29% in 2005.
Chain music stores accounted for 66% of all album sales, compared to 71% in 2005.
Classical and Country albums were the only two genres that gained in sales over 2005; up 21% and 15% respectively.
Overall Album sales (including Albums and Track Equivalent Album sales) declined 3.2% compared to 2005.
Total album sales declined 4.7% compared to 2005.
The top two selling artists in Canada during the SoundScan era are both native Canadians; Celine Dion (6.2 million albums sold) and Shania Twain (4.2 million albums sold).
These same two artists have the biggest selling albums for Canada in the SoundScan era; Shania Twain’s “Come On Over” album has sold 1.9 million units and Celine Dion’s “Let’s Talk about Love” album has reached 1.5 million sales.
Consistent with the previous two years, 25% of total album sales occurred during the Holiday Season (last 6 weeks of year).

Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (Nielsen BDS), the music industry’s leading music performance monitoring service, has announced the most played songs at radio and at video for 2006.

Nielsen BDS: Top 10 Most Played Songs			Nielsen BDS: 2006 Top 10 Artist Airplay
	Title/Artist	Detections		Artist	Detections
1	Unwritten/ Natasha Bedingfield	36,613	1	Nickelback	115,224
2	You’re Beautiful/ James Blunt	36,358	2	Bryan Adams	92,439
3	Crazy/ Gnarls Barkley	34,252	3	Kelly Clarkson	82,427
4	Who Says You Can’t Go Home/Bon Jovi	33,565	4	Madonna	77,040
5	Dani California/ Red Hot Chili Peppers	32,233	5	Shania Twain	76,117
6	Savin’ Me/ Nickelback^*	31,869	6	U2	74,564
7	Ever the Same/ Rob Thomas	28,332	7	Red Hot Chili Peppers	70,812
8	Far Away/ Nickelback^*	26,827	8	The Tragically Hip	68,733
9	Out of My Head/ Mobile^*	26,676	9	Tim McGraw	63,827
10.	Because of You/ Kelly Clarkson	26,581	10.	James Blunt	63,237

Nielsen BDS: Top 10 Music Video Airplay
	Title/Artist	Detections
1	Promiscuous/ Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland	2,702
2	Savin’ Me/ Nickelback^*	2,621
3	Animal I Have Become/ Three Days Grace^*	2,593
4	Devil In A Midnight Mass/ Billy Talent^*	2,563
5	Hips Don’t Lie/ Shakira feat. Wyclef Jean	2,494
6	Out of My Head/ Mobile^*	2,400
7	I Write Sins Not Tragedies/ Panic! At the Disco	2,355
8	SOS/ Rihanna	2,297
9	Ridin’/ Chamillionaire feat Krayzie Bone	2,276
10.	Unfaithful/ Rihanna	2,266