USHER’S LOOKING 4 MYSELF DEBUTS AT #1 ON THE BILLBOARD TOP 200 CHART
ENJOYS WORLDWIDE CHART DOMINATION WITH #1 PEAK POSITION SPOTS ON ITUNES CHARTS IN 10 COUNTRIES
DEBUTS AT #1 ON THE R&B ALBUM AND DIGITAL ALBUMS CHARTS IN US
REACHED #1 PEAK POSITION ON ITUNES R&B CHARTS IN 21 COUNTRIES EX-US
(NEW YORK- June 20, 2012) Usher’s seventh studio album LOOKING 4 MYSELF (RCA Records) has become the seven-time Grammy Award-winning superstar’s fourth consecutive #1 studio album according to Nielsen SoundScan. LOOKING 4 MYSELF also debuts at #1 on the Digital Albums Chart and R&B Album Chart, and Usher’s current blockbuster single “SCREAM†holds the #7 spot on the Digital Songs Chart.
LOOKING 4 MYSELF also attained the #1 iTunes peak position spot week of release in 9 other countries including the UK, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands. The album also reached the #1 sales spot on the iTunes R&B charts in 21 other countries including the UK, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Norway, Spain, Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic, Demark and Japan.
LOOKING 4 MYSELF has already yielded 3 massive hit singles – the album’s lead single “CLIMAX,” is Usher’s 12th #1 single, extending Usher’s reign for the most No. 1s on R&B/Hip-Hop Songs during the Nielsen Music era (since December 1992) according to Billboard Magazine. Number one most added at Rhythm and Top 40 Radio its first week out, Top 10 at iTunes and Top 40 Radio, and Top 10 on the Digital Songs chart this week, “SCREAM†has been hailed as a contender for “the song of the summer†title by Entertainment Weekly who also describes the track as “a dirty-minded adrenaline spike.†Usher also recently revealed the follow up track “LEMME SEE†Featuring Rick Ross, which currently holds the #7 spot at Urban Radio. Videos for both “SCREAM†and “LEMME SEE†Featuring Rick Ross premiered just last week upon album release.
In addition to the album’s stellar sales and single success, LOOKING 4 MYSELF has generated some of the most positive critical response of 33 year-old Usher’s recording career. Time Magazine states LOOKING 4 MYSELF is “the seventh album by the reigning emperor of R&B is lighter than air and sexy as hell.†NPR places LOOKING 4 MYSELF in their top albums of the year list and describes Usher “leaping over boundaries, Marvel hero style…(the album is) solidly soulful, dramatic in all the right places, heartfelt, deeply danceable, sexy… As a powerful force in the pop mainstream…Usher …wields the kind of influence that helps define what relevance looks like.†The Los Angeles Times in a “Calendar†section cover story declared “Usher remains the most viable heir to Michael Jackson’s King of Pop throne.†And People Magazine raved “the almighty star confidently displays various sides of himself, proving that he can be all things to all people with another R&B-pop blockbuster.†Billboard called LOOKING… “a truly next-level soul album.â€
On the eve of Usher’s US album release, Usher performed “Unstaged,†an art-in-motion livestream global concert event at the Hammersmith Apollo Theater in London, hosted on YouTube and VEVO, sponsored by American Express, and directed by acclaimed lensman Hamish Hamilton. Prior to album release, Usher performed on Saturday Night Live, kicked off the Summer concert series on the Today Show and performed on the Billboard Music Awards. He is scheduled to perform on the BET Awards on July 1st where he is nominated for “Video of the Year†for “CLIMAX.â€