Ricky Martin's 'Almas Del Silencio' Is #1

Ricky Martin's recently-released Almas del Silencio (Souls of Silence) has debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart with the largest first week's sales (65,063) of any all-Spanish language album in the SoundScan era. The album has also achieved the highest chart debut on the Billboard Top 200 (#12) of any all-Spanish language album in the SoundScan era.

"Tal Vez" ("Maybe"), the first U.S. single from Almas del Silencio, has completed its 9th straight week at #1 according to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (BDS) and has achieved #1 status on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks and Latin Pop Airplay charts. In addition, "Tal Vez" has hit the #1 spot in Argentina, Chile, Central America, Mexico and Venezuela. Martin performed "Tal Vez" at the Latin Billboard Music Awards on May 8 in Miami.

Almas del Silencio, the artist's first Spanish language album since 1998's Grammy-winning Vuelve and first album in any language since 2000's multi-platinum selling Sound Loaded, went straight to #1 in Argentina and #2 in Mexico.

"Jaleo," an uptempo dance track from Almas del Silencio, is steadily moving up the charts in Belgium, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden and Japan with the single achieving Top 10 positions in Spain (#1), Italy and Sweden and Top 30 entries in Denmark, Holland and Switzerland.

Almas del Silencio is the latest in a series of record-breaking recordings for Ricky Martin, a Grammy-winning international pop superstar who's sold more than 20 million albums worldwide. With his "Livin' La Vida Loca" single, Ricky Martin became the first solo Latin male artist of the SoundScan era to hit #1 on the Hot 100. He won the Best Latin Pop Performance Grammy for Vuelve, a full-length Latin recording, at the 41st Annual Grammy ceremony in 1999. Among Ricky's numerous awards, he was named World's Best-selling Pop Male Artist and World's Best-selling Latin Artist at the 12th Annual World Music Awards. At the 10th Annual Billboard Music Awards, Ricky Martin was named Male Artist Of The Year and Male Hot 100 Singles Artist Of The Year.

Following the chart-topping international achievements of his self-titled English language debut, which was certified 7x platinum by the RIAA, Ricky Martin rode the success of Sound Loaded, which has sold more than 5.4 million copies worldwide since its release on November 14, 2000, has been certified gold and/or platinum in 26 countries, and is RIAA double-platinum in the U.S.

SOURCE: Columbia Records

CONTACT: Kim Jakwerth, Marleah Leslie & Associates, New York,
+1-212-620-3126; or Claire Mercuri, Columbia Records, Media, New York,
+1-212-833-5121, claire_mercuri@sonymusic.com; Online press - Lisa Yvette
Linder, Sony Music Online Services, New York, +1-212-833-6666,
lisa_linder@sonymusic.com

Web site: http://www.rickymartin.com/
http://www.columbiarecords.com/