Noël (Josh Groban album)
Encyclopedia
Noël is a Christmas album
by singer Josh Groban
that was released on October 9, 2007. In the United States
, the album is available as a single CD
release in most retail stores. However, Target
stores released a limited edition version of the album with a bonus DVD
that features a "Making of" documentary
entitled The Making of Noël.
According to Nielsen/SoundScan
, the album sold over 3.6 million copies during the first eleven weeks after its release, making it the overall best-selling album in the U.S. for all of 2007. As of October 16, 2011, the album has sold a total of 5,280,000 copies in the United States according to SoundScan, making it the second best-selling holiday album in the U.S.
during the Nielsen/SoundScan era (March 1991 – present) behind Kenny G
's 1994 holiday set Miracles: The Holiday Album
.
On December 12, 2008, Noël was certified Quintuple Platinum
by the Recording Industry Association of America
, recognizing shipment of five million copies in the United States.
on the chart dated December 8, 2007. The album sold about 405,000 copies in the week it reached number one, rising from the number two position with an 81% sales increase. The week's sales corresponded to an appearance by Groban on The Oprah Winfrey Show
during the highly anticipated annual Oprah's Favorite Things
feature.
In the next week, the album stayed at #1 on the Billboard 200 and its sales increased further, by 33%, with 539,000 copies being sold that week.
In its 9th week, the album held the top spot with another 8% increase in sales, moving 581,000 copies, and increased yet again in its tenth week selling 669,000 copies, and again holding the number one spot.
The album has set numerous Billboard 200 records, starting with being the first Christmas album to spend four consecutive weeks at #1 in the charts 51 year history, as well as being only the second Christmas album to ever spend four weeks at #1, tying it with Elvis Presley
's Elvis' Christmas Album
. It is also the first album to spend four consecutive weeks at #1 and experience a sales increase each of those weeks since No Doubt
's Tragic Kingdom
album did so in December 1996. The 669,000 copies the album sold in its tenth week was the biggest single week tally for a Christmas album since Kenny G
's Miracles: The Holiday Album
sold 819,000 copies in the Christmas week of 1994. By its tenth week the album had already become the best selling album of 2007, scanning 2.8 million copies in only a little over two months of release, a rarity in the fast declining physical album market of the past few years.
In its 11th week it became the first album of 2007 to hold #1 for 5 weeks, and the first Christmas album ever to hold #1 on the Billboard 200 for 5 weeks in a row. In that fifth week at #1 it outsold Mary J. Blige
's Growing Pains
, selling about 757,000 copies. It has so far sold at least 5,280,000 copies in the US according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Christmas Album
Christmas Album may refer to:* Christmas Album , a 1968 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass* Christmas Album Christmas Album may refer to:* Christmas Album (Herb Alpert album), a 1968 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass* Christmas Album Christmas Album may refer to:* Christmas Album (Herb...
by singer Josh Groban
Josh Groban
Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...
that was released on October 9, 2007. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the album is available as a single CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
release in most retail stores. However, Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
stores released a limited edition version of the album with a bonus DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
that features a "Making of" documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
entitled The Making of Noël.
According to Nielsen/SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
, the album sold over 3.6 million copies during the first eleven weeks after its release, making it the overall best-selling album in the U.S. for all of 2007. As of October 16, 2011, the album has sold a total of 5,280,000 copies in the United States according to SoundScan, making it the second best-selling holiday album in the U.S.
Best-selling Christmas/Holiday albums in the United States
This page shows the best-selling Christmas albums in the United States. It includes artists from all over the world, but it only includes sales in the United States of America....
during the Nielsen/SoundScan era (March 1991 – present) behind Kenny G
Kenny G
Kenneth Bruce Gorelick , better known by his stage name Kenny G, is an American, adult contemporary and smooth jazz saxophonist. His fourth album, Duotones, brought him breakthrough success in 1986...
's 1994 holiday set Miracles: The Holiday Album
Miracles: The Holiday Album
Miracles: The Holiday Album is the first holiday album by saxophonist Kenny G. It was released by Arista Records in 1994, and peaked at number 1 on the Billboard 200, Contemporary Jazz Albums and R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts...
.
On December 12, 2008, Noël was certified Quintuple Platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
, recognizing shipment of five million copies in the United States.
Track listing
- "Silent Night" - 4:11
- "Little Drummer BoyLittle Drummer Boy"The Little Drummer Boy," originally known as "Carol of the Drum," is a popular Christmas song written by the American classical music composer/teacher Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. It was recorded 1955 by the Trapp Family Singers and further popularized by a 1958 recording by the Harry...
" - 4:20 (featuring Guitarist Andy McKeeAndy McKeeAndy McKee is an American fingerstyle guitarist, currently signed to the American record label .His style of playing and his compositions have earned him a considerable international fanbase...
and Gigi Hadid) - "I'll Be Home for Christmas with Messages from real soldiers and voice by Gigi Hadid" - 4:15
- "Ave MariaHail MaryThe Angelic Salutation, Hail Mary, or Ave Maria is a traditional biblical Catholic prayer asking for the intercession of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Hail Mary is used within the Catholic Church, and it forms the basis of the Rosary...
" - 5:17 - "Angels We Have Heard on HighAngels We Have Heard on High"Angels We Have Heard on High" is a Christmas carol. The song commemorates the story of the birth of Jesus Christ found in the Gospel of Luke, in which shepherds outside Bethlehem encounter a multitude of angels singing and praising the newborn child....
" - 3:32 (duet with Brian McKnightBrian McKnightBrian McKnight is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, producer, and R&B/Pop musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist who plays nine instruments: piano, guitar, bass guitar, drums, percussions, trombone, tuba, flugelhorn and trumpet....
) - "Thankful" - 4:50
- "The Christmas SongThe Christmas Song"The Christmas Song" is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by musician, composer, and vocalist Mel Tormé and Bob Wells. According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer...
" - 3:54 - "What Child Is This?What Child Is This?"What Child Is This?" is a popular Christmas carol written in 1865. At the age of twenty-nine, English writer William Chatterton Dix was struck with a sudden near-fatal illness and confined to bedrest for several months, during which he went into a deep depression...
" - 3:53 - "The First Noël" - 4:34 (duet with Faith HillFaith HillFaith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...
) - "Petit Papa NoëlPetit Papa Noël"Petit Papa Noël" is a 1946 song recorded by French singer Tino Rossi. Written by Raymond Vincy and Henri Martinet, this Christmas song was originally performed by Rossi in Richard Pottier's film Destins. It is currently the best-selling single of all time in France, with over 5,711,000 units sold...
" - 4:05 - "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" - 4:13
- "Panis AngelicusPanis AngelicusPanis angelicus is the penultimate strophe of the hymn Sacris solemniis written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi as part of a complete liturgy of the Feast including prayers for the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours....
" - 4:19 - "O Come All Ye FaithfulAdeste Fideles"Adeste Fideles" is a hymn tune attributed to English hymnist John Francis Wade . The text itself has unclear beginnings, and may have been written in the 13th century by John of Reading, though it has been concluded that Wade was probably the author.The original four verses of the hymn were...
" - 4:38 (with the Mormon Tabernacle ChoirMormon Tabernacle ChoirThe Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...
)
Chart performance
Seven weeks after its release, Noël reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
on the chart dated December 8, 2007. The album sold about 405,000 copies in the week it reached number one, rising from the number two position with an 81% sales increase. The week's sales corresponded to an appearance by Groban on The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
during the highly anticipated annual Oprah's Favorite Things
Oprah's Favorite Things
"Oprah's Favorite Things" was an annual segment that appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show from 2002 to 2010, with a one-year hiatus in 2009. In the segment, which was typically aired during the holiday season, Winfrey shared products with her audience that she felt were noteworthy or that would make...
feature.
In the next week, the album stayed at #1 on the Billboard 200 and its sales increased further, by 33%, with 539,000 copies being sold that week.
In its 9th week, the album held the top spot with another 8% increase in sales, moving 581,000 copies, and increased yet again in its tenth week selling 669,000 copies, and again holding the number one spot.
The album has set numerous Billboard 200 records, starting with being the first Christmas album to spend four consecutive weeks at #1 in the charts 51 year history, as well as being only the second Christmas album to ever spend four weeks at #1, tying it with Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's Elvis' Christmas Album
Elvis' Christmas Album
Elvis' Christmas Album is the fourth album by Elvis Presley on RCA Victor Records, LOC 1035, a deluxe limited edition, released in October 1957, and recorded at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. It has been reissued in numerous different formats since its first release...
. It is also the first album to spend four consecutive weeks at #1 and experience a sales increase each of those weeks since No Doubt
No Doubt
No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California that formed in 1986. The ska-pop sound of their first album No Doubt , failed to make an impact...
's Tragic Kingdom
Tragic Kingdom
Tragic Kingdom is the third studio album by the American third wave ska band No Doubt. It was released on October 10, 1995, on Trauma Records, a division of Interscope Records. The album was produced by Matthew Wilder, mixed by Paul Palmer, and recorded in 11 studios in the Greater Los Angeles Area...
album did so in December 1996. The 669,000 copies the album sold in its tenth week was the biggest single week tally for a Christmas album since Kenny G
Kenny G
Kenneth Bruce Gorelick , better known by his stage name Kenny G, is an American, adult contemporary and smooth jazz saxophonist. His fourth album, Duotones, brought him breakthrough success in 1986...
's Miracles: The Holiday Album
Miracles: The Holiday Album
Miracles: The Holiday Album is the first holiday album by saxophonist Kenny G. It was released by Arista Records in 1994, and peaked at number 1 on the Billboard 200, Contemporary Jazz Albums and R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts...
sold 819,000 copies in the Christmas week of 1994. By its tenth week the album had already become the best selling album of 2007, scanning 2.8 million copies in only a little over two months of release, a rarity in the fast declining physical album market of the past few years.
In its 11th week it became the first album of 2007 to hold #1 for 5 weeks, and the first Christmas album ever to hold #1 on the Billboard 200 for 5 weeks in a row. In that fifth week at #1 it outsold Mary J. Blige
Mary J. Blige
Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...
's Growing Pains
Growing Pains (album)
Growing Pains is the eighth studio album by American R&B recording artist Mary J. Blige. The album was released on December 18, 2007 by Geffen Records. It debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 selling 629,000 copies in its first week...
, selling about 757,000 copies. It has so far sold at least 5,280,000 copies in the US according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Certifications, peaks and sales
| Country | Peak Position | Certification (If Any) | Sales/shipments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
33 | Gold | 35,000+ |
| Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... |
1 | 3x Platinum | 300,000+ |
| France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
24 | ||
| Ireland Ireland Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth... |
26 | ||
| The Netherlands | 26 | ||
| Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north... |
1 | Gold | 10,000+ |
| Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... |
4 | Gold | 20,000+ |
| USA Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
1 | 5x Platinum RIAA certification In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards... |
5,000,000+ |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2010) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
85 |