Long live the long tail


BBC News reports - A breakthrough album from classical singer Hayley Westenra has been named the UK's biggest-selling classical album of the 21st century so far. The New Zealand-born singer, now 20, released her third album Pure when she was 15. British stars Russell Watson and Katherine Jenkins dominate the rest of the top 10 chart based on sales between January 2000 and December 2007.

The list was compiled by the Official UK Charts Company for Classic FM. "Classical music is alive and kicking in 21st century Britain, with the sales of many of these albums rivalling those in the pop charts," said Classic FM's managing director Darren Henley.

Biggest selling classical albums 2000 - 2007
1. Pure - Hayley Westenra
2. The Voice - Russell Watson
3.Encore - Russell Watson
4. Voices of the Valley - Fron Male Voice Choir e
5. Living a Dream - Katherine Jenkins
6. Second Nature - Katherine Jenkins
7. Bryn - Bryn Terfel
8. Sentimento - Andrea Bocelli
9. Serenade, Katherine Jenkins
10. Gladiator, Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard
Source: Official UK Charts Company

Fascinating. But I'm afraid it's Elliott Carter tomorrow On An Overgrown Path. I did check carefully, but I couldn't find him in the chart above. Classic FM pioneered computerised playlists, read the story here.
Photo taken by me at the Padmaloka Buddhist Retreat Centre here in Norfolk, and used before in a Lou Harrison post. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

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