Il Divo Debuts at #1 on Billboard Top 200 Best-Selling Albums Chart With Ancora

The world-class operatic pop vocal quartet Il Divo has surpassed its previous record-breaking success in the U.S. as Ancora, the group's new album, debuts at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 best-selling albums chart with true first week's sales of 156,407.

When Il Divo, the self-titled debut album from the groundbreaking quartet, was released in April 2005, it debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 Bestselling Albums chart with first week's sales of more than 146,000 records, a remarkable and unprecedented feat given an absence of either traditional radio support or an on-air music video. At that time, Il Divo, a #1 album in the UK, achieved the highest U.S. chart entry (in the SoundScan era) for a debut album from a UK-signed act. That album remains in the Top 200 more than nine months after its release.

As it debuts at #1 on the Top 200, the U.S. edition of Ancora is mirroring the success of the album's international version (released just before the 2005 holiday season) which debuted at #1 in nine countries, including Canada, Australia, and the UK. The U.S. success of Ancora comes on the eve of the Il Divo's much-anticipated first world tour, which has sold-out scores of venues across the globe.

Ancora is the first stateside album release from Il Divo since the group gave its U.S. fans a special holiday present this past holiday season. The Christmas Collection, a heart-warming selection of beloved seasonal music, was the nation's best-selling holiday album in 2005.

With its #1 U.S. debut, Ancora fulfills the promise of the group's best-selling debut (which has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide) with some of Il Divo's most tender and passionate performances to-date.

Recorded in Sweden and London under the auspices of producer Steve Mac and production team Per Magnusson and David Krueger, Ancora (which means "Again" or "Encore" in Italian) gives the multi-lingual members of Il Divo the room to create a sublime intersection of pop and classical sensibilities as they perform in four different languages -- English, Italian, Spanish, and French -- across ten elegantly-imagined tracks including a heart-stopping version of Eric Carmen's "All By Myself (Solo Otra Vez)" and a powerfully poignant duet with international superstar Celine Dion on "I Believe In You (Je Crois En Toi)."

The specially-configured American edition of Ancora includes the tracks "All By Myself," "Isabel," "I Believe In You (Je Crois En Toi)" (Il Divo and Celine Dion), "You Raise Me Up (Por Ti Sere)," "Si Tu Me Amas," "Hasta Mi Final," "Heroe," "En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor," "Esisti Dentro Me," "Pour Que Tu M'aimes Encore."

Il Divo was formed in late 2003 under the aegis of the iconic "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell, who, after conducting a two-year international talent search, discovered David Miller (USA - tenor), Sebastien Izambard (France - vox populi), Urs Buhler (Switzerland - tenor) and Carlos Marin (Spain - baritone), a virtuosic vocal quartet who combined an astounding musical mastery with smoldering sex appeal.

www.ildivo.com

www.columbiarecords.com

SOURCE: Columbia Records

CONTACT: Claire Mercuri, Columbia Records, Media, New York,
+1-212-833-5121, Claire.Mercuri@sonybmg.com

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