2004 CMA Awards A Winner For The Country Music Industry

(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) —

The big winner at "The 38th Annual CMA Awards" was the country music industry coming away from the November 9 event with a 166 percent jump in album sales of the Top 75 Country albums and capturing the No. 7 television ratings spot for the week. "This is what the CMA Awards are all about – reaching potential consumers with the best our format has to offer,” said CMA Executive Director Ed Benson. "When we deliver on that plan, we all come away winners."

The 2004 CMA Awards posted an 11.5 rating with an 18 share. CBS estimates that 18.46 million people watched the entire broadcast and more than 37 million viewers watched all or part of the event. CBS was the first in households, viewers and key demographics during the three-hour broadcast (8:00-11:00 PM/ET). CBS won every half-hour in households, viewers, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54. This is CBS's best delivery in households, viewers and adults 25-54 and adults 18-49 since Nov. 13, 2001 (JAG/"Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary Special").

To put the CMA Awards rating in perspective, the next closest network competition was NBC with 7.6/12; ABC with 6.4/10; WB with 3.7/5; FOX with 3.3/5; and UPN with 2/3.

Apparently the viewers liked what they saw enough to go out and buy country music CDs. In the week immediately following the broadcast, the Billboard Top 75 Country albums chart reflected a 166 percent increase factoring in new releases from Shania Twain (529,567) and Toby Keith (435,489) according to Nielsen SoundScan. More than 30 other acts, who either performed or presented trophies on the CMA Awards, also enjoyed sales spikes according to Nielsen SoundScan.

"Keith Urban's electric live CMA performance led to substantial sales increases for the new release Be Here and the double platinum selling Golden Road," said Capitol Records Nashville's Bill Kennedy, vice president sales. "Dierks Bentley's outstanding performance provided a nice sales lift for his self-titled release as well."

"The artists, songwriters and producers are the ones receiving the Awards on stage, but this is a collective win for everyone in the industry who work tirelessly throughout the year to support the artists and their dreams," Benson said. "This is very gratifying for all of us."

Artist	Album	Increase (provided by Nielsen SoundScan for the week ending 11/14/04):
Shania Twain	Greatest Hits	Debut
Toby Keith	Volume 2: Greatest Hits	Debut
LeAnn Rimes	What A Wonderful World	87%
Billy Currington	Billy Currington	76%
Gretchen Wilson	Here For The Party	74%
Keith Urban	Be Here	61%
Kenny Chesney	When The Sun Goes Down	60%
Rascal Flatts	Feels Like Today	59%
Martina McBride	Martina	56%
Terri Clark	Greatest Hits	55%
Big & Rich	Horse of a Different Color	53%
Reba McEntire	Room To Breathe	44%
Alan Jackson	Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (LTD)	42%
Jimmy Buffett	License To Chill	40%
Josh Turner	Long Black Train	40%
Sara Evans	Restless	39%
Brad Paisley	Mud on the Tires	38%
Brooks & Dunn	Red Dirt Road	35%
Keith Urban	Golden Road	35%
Tim McGraw	Live Like You Were Dying	31%
Alan Jackson	Greatest Hits Vol. 2	28%
Dierks Bentley	Dierks Bentley	20%
Alan Jackson	What I Do	18%
Big & Rich	Super Galactic Fan Pak	17%
LeAnn Rimes	Greatest Hits	17%
Brooks & Dunn	Greatest Hits Collection II	16%
Toby Keith	Shock N Ya'll	16%
Montgomery Gentry	You Do Your Thing	15%
Julie Roberts	Julie Roberts	14%
Willie Nelson	Essential Willie Nelson	13%
Lonestar	Greatest Hits	11%
Randy Travis	Very Best of Randy Travis	10%

–Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner