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WWE Music Group, (formerly known as WWE Records, as well as SmackDown! Records[1]), is a record label funded and operated by World Wrestling Entertainment. It is manufactured and co-marketed by Columbia Records and distributed by Sony BMG. The label specializes in compilation albums of the WWE wrestlers' entrance themes, often by contributing, but also releases titles that have been actually performed by the wrestlers themselves, including the various-artists album WWE Originals and John Cena's You Can't See Me.
[edit] History[edit] BeginningsThe series of World Wrestling Federation (WWF) produced albums began in 1985 with The Wrestling Album.[2] The album contained the song, "Land of a Thousand Dances", recorded by a majority of the WWF roster at the time (including Roddy Piper, Jesse Ventura, and Randy Savage). The locker room would later reconvene for the song's music video.[2] Later in 1993, WrestleMania: The Album was released, but it failed to chart on the Billboard 200. By 2002, however, it had sold a total of 91,000 copies.[2] [edit] Format change and successThe format of the wrestling albums changed in 1996, as the focus went from the wrestlers themselves singing to a compilation of various wrestlers' entrance themes.[2] WWF Full Metal was the first album released with the new focus.[2] In October, the album reached #184 on the Billboard 200 and by 2002, had sold 173,000 copies.[2] This new format proved to be a success. The follow-up album, WWF The Music, Vol. 2, which was released two years later, spent sixteen weeks on the chart and sold over 480,000 copies.[2] WWF The Music, Vol. 3 and WWF The Music, Vol. 4, released in December 1998 and October 1999 respectively, each sold over a million copies.[2] In particular, Vol. 3 reached #10 on the Billboard 200, spent thirty weeks on the chart, and sold over 1.21 million copies.[2] The album reached position #4 in its debut week, stayed on the charts for twenty weeks, and sold over 1.13 million copies.[2] WWF Aggression featured rappers such as Snoop Dogg, ODB, Method Man, and Kool Keith, all of whom recorded rap versions of various wrestlers' entrance themes.[2] This album differed from previous albums, which were more along the lines of rock music.[2] Despite the change, the album still sold approximately 640,000 copies.[2] In February 2001, WWF The Music, Vol. 5 debuted on the Billboard 200 at position #2, spending two weeks in the top twenty and selling 176,000 copies.[2] The album featured an original song by The Rock.[2] By 2002, Vol. 5 had sold 640,000 copies.[2] In September 2001, the WWF Tough Enough album sold 138,000 copies.[2] In 2002, WWF Forceable Entry sold 145,000 copies in its first week to enter the Billboard 200 at position #3.[2][3] It was the fourth consecutive WWF album to debut in the top ten of the Billboard 200.[3] Forceable Entry also debuted on the Billboard Hard Rock Albums Chart.[3] The album including music from Creed, Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit, Drowning Pool, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Sevendust, and Saliva.[3] Around this time the label signed their first act, the heavy metal band Neurotica, who released their third album on the label - the only non-wrestling related album released on the label so far - before disbanding.[4] As of March 2006, WWE officially announced the launching of the "WWE Music Group" under the management of Neil Lawi.[5] [edit] List of albums produced
According to WWE's corporate website, the next album will be released in Fall 2009, commemorating the tenth anniversary of WWE Friday Night SmackDown.[6] [edit] See also[edit] Notes
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