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Diddy's Danity Kane Stops the Show with #1 Debut

9/5/06 Kontinuous Events/Atlantic Records Press Release

"DANITY KANE," the self-titled debut album from Bad Boy Records' sensational new female quintet, has made a spectacular #1 debut on the SoundScan/Billboard 200 album chart. Driven by a rapidly spreading wildfire of fan demand, the album exploded to the top spot, upsetting releases by established multi-platinum artists OutKast and Christina Aguilera, and selling over 234,000 units in its first week.

The music industry's newest Cinderella story, "DANITY KANE" is an out-of-the-box phenomenon at retail, selling nearly 90,000 units in its first day alone. The album quickly sold out at most stores across the country, prompting a massive effort by both the label and retail community to restock shelves overnight to meet demand. The album has shipped over half a million copies, with retail orders now topping the 625,000 mark. Meanwhile, on the digital front, "DANITY KANE" instantly became the #1 album on iTunes, with an average fan ranking of 4-and-a-half stars (out of 5).

The stars of Diddy's hit MTV series Making the Band 3, Danity Kane has defied industry convention, with six-figure sales being generated almost exclusively from huge street buzz and exponential word-of-mouth - an unprecedented achievement for a new artist with little radio airplay.

Bad Boy CEO Sean "Diddy" Combs said: "This is an historic moment for Bad Boy Records and Danity Kane. These are five hugely talented women, and they worked amazingly hard to make their dream come true. I want to thank all our friends at MTV for their great support in helping us make the band. Danity Kane is the real deal. I knew it from the beginning, the fans knew it from the beginning, and now the whole industry knows it. The people have spoken."

"Danity Kane hitting number one represents another amazing chapter in our relationship with Diddy and Bad Boy," said Christina Norman, President, MTV. "As millions of MTV viewers witnessed first hand on 'Making the Band,' these ladies earned their success through hard work, determination and raw talent."

"When Diddy and I joined together to find an international supergroup, we knew it had to be a group that would stand out above the rest and set the standard for others to follow," said Danity Kane's manager Johnny Wright. "The talented ladies of Danity Kane are just that. I'm blessed to have found them and look forward to helping to guide them to be the best in the business."

"The formula works like this: Diddy, Bad Boy Records, talented and beautiful artists, and the marketing strategy," said Steve Lerner, Circuit City's Senior National Buyer/Music. "It's the culmination of many factors, and Danity Kane actually brings back the excitement of what the music business is all about - Artist Development!"

"Danity Kane is an amazing artist development story," noted Virgin Megastore Sr. Product Manager Jerry Suarez. "For us we were pleasantly surprised, just another indication that if you put a good record together people will buy it. Bad Boy did a great job creating excitement for this release, but that doesn't always sell records. You need to put together a solid release, and they delivered. Bad Boy is doing a great job of being a strong, diversified label."

"Danity 'Co-Kane'... people are fiendin' for it!" commented Violet Brown, Director of Urban Music for Trans World Entertainment. "It is great to have a new title of this magnitude!"

The video for Danity Kane's first single, "Show Stopper," is in Big 10 (heavy) rotation on MTV and is the #1 most-streamed video on MTV.com, where Danity Kane also has the #1 most-visited artist page. The group's MySpace page has racked up nearly 14 million audio plays, with 11 million plays in just the last week alone. The group now has over 325,000 friends on their site and is the #2 ranked MySpace artist, just behind fellow Bad Boy artist Yung Joc.

The Jim Jonsin-produced "Show Stopper" debuted at #5 last week on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart. Danity Kane is the #4 most searched artist on Yahoo! Music, where "Show Stopper" has jumped from #56 to #11 in one week. At AOL Music, "Show Stopper" is the #4-ranked song, while its companion video debuts this week at #11. On YouTube, the "Show Stopper" clip has been streamed over one million times.

In addition, "Show Stopper" was Warner Music Group's #1 ringtone the week of 8/14, with sales over 90,000. As of this week, Danity Kane ringtones are being featured at every major mobile carrier.

Danity Kane is the latest in a string of #1 successes from Bad Boy Records. Most recently, Yung Joc's debut album, "NEW JOC CITY" (Block Entertainment/ Bad Boy South), debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. At the same time, the label has hit the top of the charts with current smash singles from both Yung Joc ("It's Goin' Down") and new discovery Cassie ("Me & U"). "DANITY KANE" is Bad Boy's seventh #1 album on the Billboard 200, following The Notorious B.I.G.'s "LIFE AFTER DEATH" and "BORN AGAIN," Puff Daddy's "NO WAY OUT," Mase's "HARLEM WORLD," the "WE INVENTED THE REMIX" album, and the "BAD BOYS II" soundtrack.