Sting scores encore performance on classical chart

By Anastasia Tsioulcas

NEW YORK (Billboard) - As 2007 comes to its end, the Top Classical Artists chart is a veritable redux of 2006, thanks to the staying power of artists at its very peak.

The big controversy of 2006 -- whether Sting should be counted as a core classical artist, even when he's recording straight-ahead renditions of John Dowland (replete with lute accompaniment) for Deutsche Grammophon -- continued to set the pace for the following year, meaning that once again Sting is at the head of the pack.

Other old friends: Sony Classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma is at No. 2, followed by two violinists of very different aesthetic stripes, Denon's Andre Rieu in third position and Sony Classical's Joshua Bell at No. 4. Rounding out the top five of the Top Classical Artists recap is Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, another DG artist.

With one important exception, the Top Classical Albums chart offers more of the same. Sting's "Songs From the Labyrinth" once again rules the No. 1 spot, followed by Ma's "Appassionato" at No. 2, Bell's "Voice of the Violin" at No. 3 and Rieu's "The Homecoming!" in fourth place. At No. 5 is a superb album that comes with a sad story: the late and hugely beloved American mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's album featuring her husband, Peter Lieberson's, "Neruda Songs" (Nonesuch) in a recording made not long before her death from cancer in July.

Completely unsurprisingly, DG earns first place on the Top Classical Imprints recap with 36 charted titles, followed by Sony Classical at No. 2 (13 titles), Denon (which won third place with only five charting titles), Decca (No. 4, with 16 titles) and EMI Classics at No. 5.

On the crossover front, the story differs slightly. On the Top Classical Crossover Artists chart, Josh Groban vaults to first place, followed by Il Divo and Andrea Bocelli (Groban and Bocelli having swapped places since 2006, with Il Divo holding firm at No. 2).

Another Simon Cowell-discovered artist, Paul Potts, makes his entry at No. 4, with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir slipping a rung from its 2006 position to fifth place.

Sales strength for the Groban/Il Divo/Bocelli trinity shows up again on the Top Classical Crossover Albums chart: Groban's "Awake" (143/Reprise) is at No. 1, followed by Il Divo's "Siempre" (Syco/Columbia), Bocelli's "Under the Desert Sky" (Sugar/Decca), Groban's "Noel" (143/Reprise) and Bocelli's "Amore" (Sugar/Decca).

Reuters/Billboard