Top 10: First Place Goes to Garth Brooks : Ultimately, Brooks Is the Champ

The King of Country had the Midas touch in 1998, both in record stores and at concert box offices.

Nashville powerhouse Garth Brooks is the runaway No. 1 in the second annual Calendar Ultimate Top 10 of Pop Music, a tally that combines the year’s album sales and concert grosses.

Brooks finished 1998 with about $144 million in U.S. album sales, based on SoundScan reports, and $37.2 million from North American concert grosses, according to Pollstar, the concert industry trade publication.

That adds up to $181.2 million, which blows away the 1997 winner of the Ultimate Top 10, the Rolling Stones, who amassed a mere $100 million.

Brooks came out on top in a year in which overall album sales surged 9%, which is especially good news for the industry, because it follows a 6% increase for last year, said Mike Shalett, chief operating officer of SoundScan.

The country star had to overcome the challenge of James Horner’s “Titanic� score, which was the top-selling album of the year with 9.3 million copies sold, and a pair of Canadian divas, Celine Dion and Shania Twain.

In an interesting twist, the top concert act of 1998, Elton John, did not make the Ultimate Top 10 because he had no album in the SoundScan list of the year’s Top 200 sellers and his $46.2 million in road receipts weren’t enough to vie for a ranking here.

Another twist: Seven of the Top 10 acts from the 1997 list tumbled out of the ranking this year. The Stones, LeAnn Rimes, U2, the Spice Girls, Fleetwood Mac and two slain rappers, Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., gave way this year to the new crop.

The 1998 Top 10:

1. Garth Brooks, $181.2 million. Brooks achieved his staggering sales with an aggressive marketing blitz that reached out to fans via everything from network television to local Wal-Mart stores, where he promoted his “Double Live� album in November with a closed-circuit show. “Double Live� set a record for first-week sales by moving 1.08 million copies--although there were grumbles that a supplier for Wal-Mart skewed the numbers by tweaking its sales reporting system. 1997 ranking: No. 8.

2. Celine Dion, $152.3 million. Her numbers are all the more impressive because they don’t count her contribution to the sales of the year’s best-selling album, the “Titanic� soundtrack (see No. 3 below) but, even without it, Dion was the only performer with two albums in the year’s Top 20 sellers. “Let’s Talk About Love� was the No. 2 album of the year with 5.8 million sold, and her Christmas collection, “These Are Special Times,� came in at No. 17 with 2.6 million copies. Throw in the ongoing sales of her catalog album “Falling Into You� and she sold more than 9 million albums last year. She also grossed $38.1 million on a 43-date tour that tapped into the “Titanic� fervor. 1997 ranking: No. 6.

3. James Horner, $128.3 million. This one is a bit tricky. His total includes the entire $116.3 million in sales of the “Titanic� soundtrack, but the album also includes Dion’s blockbuster hit, “My Heart Will Go On,� and an appearance by the Irish band Gaelic Storm. We give Horner the nod for the money, though, because the Dion song was also featured on her solo album, which sold 2.5 million copies before the soundtrack sales ignited. This suggests that “Titanic� buyers were looking for Horner’s movie magic more than for the diva’s big number. Horner cashed in a second time with “Back to Titanic,� a soundtrack sequel that grossed $12 million.

4. Shania Twain, $93.1 million. Blurring the lines between pop and modern country music, Twain sold more than 4.7 million copies of her “Come On Over� album and grossed $33.5 million with her first major tour. “She stayed off the road after her debut and she really proved herself as a major attraction this year,� said Gary Bongiovanni, Pollstar’s editor. “It was quite an accomplishment.�

5. Backstreet Boys, $86.4 million. The teen group broke into the Ultimate Top 5 with its self-titled debut album, which raked in nearly $70 million in 1998, and a concert tour that added $16.5 million. That tally doesn’t count its merchandising prowess: By some industry estimates, the band took in more than $10 per person at its concerts in clothing and souvenir sales, far more than the industry average. “Obviously, the young kids love to buy stuff with the band’s name on it,� Bongiovanni said. “When you’re real hot, that happens.�

6. Metallica, $79.7 million. The venerable metal band had an unconventional formula for success in 1998: Release a double album featuring the band’s versions of largely obscure head-banging songs and then rely on catalog sales. It added up to success in 1998 as two of the band’s older albums (1997’s “Reload� and the “Black Album� from 1991) ranked among the Top 200 albums. In fact, each outsold such celebrated new releases as Marilyn Manson’s “Mechanical Animals� and Hole’s “Celebrity Skin.� The hard-charging Bay Area band also took in close to $25 million with its 44-show tour. 1997 ranking: No. 7.

7. ‘N Sync, $71.4 million. The other boy band, which shares some of the same managers as the Backstreet Boys, powered its way into this ranking almost purely on album sales. The self-titled debut album from the Orlando, Fla., quintet sold 4.2 million copies, and its holiday collection, “Home for Christmas,� sold 1.3 million. Playing only small venues, ‘N Sync grossed a mere $2.5 million on the concert circuit, but the boys are set to launch an arena tour that should change that in 1999.

8. Dave Matthews Band, $67 million. The rock band’s “Before These Crowded Streets� debuted at No. 1 in May, ending the “Titanic� soundtrack’s 14-week stranglehold on the chart’s top spot. The album sold more than 2.1 million copies, but it was the band’s concerts that pulled in the biggest bucks in 1998: Its $40.1 million in concert grosses was second only to Elton John’s. “I hate to compare anything to the Grateful Dead, but this band has that type of following,� says Bob Feterl, Tower Records’ regional manager. “They have great fan loyalty.�

9. Beastie Boys, $60.5 million. The Beasties defy the concert industry rule that hip-hop doesn’t sell tickets, but the Long Island, N.Y., trio is used to breaking rules and resisting easy music categories. The group grossed $11.7 million on the road (Puff Daddy, by comparison, was the next-biggest act in rap, with $5.3 million) by appealing to a crossover alternative-rock audience and scoring a hit with the infectious song “Intergalactic� and with its album, “Hello Nasty,� which has sold more than 3.1 million copies.

10. Janet Jackson, $52.2 million. Her “The Velvet Rope� album generated $19.1 million, but most of her grosses, $33.1 million, came from her 56-city lavishly staged tour. She surprised many in the promotion industry by topping the numbers put up by such traditional concert powerhouses as Aerosmith.