(PR) In an unprecedented move that brings change to a decades-old practice in the record industry ("Tuesdays in-store") the Island Def Jam Music Group will break with tradition when its three biggest year-end album releases by three of IDJ's most important multi-platinum acts: Day & Age by the Killers (on Island Records), Theater Of The Mind by Ludacris (on DTP/Def Jam), and 808s & Heartbreak by Kanye West (on Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam) will be released in the physical and digital marketplace on Monday, November 24th. This one-time only trifecta comes three days before the beginning of the Thanksgiving holiday, the biggest shopping weekend of the year.
Each of the new albums has been feverishly anticipated by fans for months, and each is fueled by at least one chart single hit and video (or two!): Kanye West with the smash "Love Lockdown" and brand new "Heartless" from 808s & Heartbreak; Ludacris with the hit "One More Drink" (featuring T-Pain) from Theater Of The Mind; and the Killers with their hit "Human" from Day & Age.
Theater Of The Mind is the long-awaited follow-up to Luda's RIAA platinum Release Therapy (released Sept. 2006), which debuted at #1 on first week sales of 309,000 copies. Its first single, the RIAA platinum "Money Maker" (featuring Pharrell Williams) hit #1 on the Hot 100 and R&B charts, and was followed at #1 by "Runaway Love" (featuring Mary J. Blige). Ludacris and Mary J. performed the song live with special guests Earth, Wind & Fire at the 49th annual Grammy Awards worldwide telecast where Release Therapy won for Best Rap Album. "Runaway Love" went on to win Best Collaboration at the BET Awards '07.
Day & Age, the third studio album by the Killers, follows up their RIAA platinum second album Sam's Town (Oct. 2006), with the Grammy nominated #1 Modern Rock hit "When You Were Young," and "Read My Mind," the band's first #1 at Triple-A. Hot Fuss (June 2004), their 5 million-selling debut spun off four hits the Grammy-nominated anthem, "Somebody Told Me," the VMA-winning (and Grammy-nominated) "Mr. Brightside," the Modern rock hit "Smile Like You Mean It," and the Grammy-nominated "All These Things That I've Done." Day & Age comes one year after the release of Sawdust (Nov. 2007), a collection of previously unreleased session tracks, B-sides, rarities and one-offs, including two new singles and videos: "Shadowplay" (from the motion picture soundtrack of Control, Anton Corbijn's biopic of Joy Division's Ian Curtis), and "Tranquilize" (one of four new collaborations with Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer Lou Reed.
808s & Heartbreak, Kanye West's fourth album, is set to follow the pace set by his first three landmark #1 releases 2004's The College Dropout, 2005's Late Registration and last year's Graduation (released 9/11/07). The first two albums generated a total of six Grammy Awards, including consecutive wins for Best Rap Album of 2004 and 2005, and Best Rap Song of 2004 ("Jesus Walks") and 2005 ("Diamonds >From Sierra Leone"). Graduation debuted at #1 on 956,936 first week sales, the biggest Soundscan debut by any album since Kanye's own Late Registration two years before and the biggest debut in Island Def Jam history. Graduation generated three Grammy Awards: Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song ("Good Life"), and Best Rap Solo Performance ("Stronger").
