WORLDWIDE SINGLE “WE WEREN’T BORN TO FOLLOW” LEADS TO No. 1 ALBUM DEBUTS IN CANADA, JAPAN AND GERMANY –No. 2 DEBUT IN UK
Legendary Island Records group Bon Jovi caps the celebration of their 25th year on record with a second consecutive No. 1 Soundscan debut- as their 11th studio album THE CIRCLE (released November 10th) sails into the top spot on first week sales of 163,000 copies.
“Coming after their No. 1-selling tour of last year, this No. 1 chart debut for Bon Jovi once again proves they have a loyal fan base that transcends every change in popular music,” said Antonio ‘L.A.’ Reid, Chairman, Island Def Jam Music Group.
“After two and a half decades of uninterrupted success, Bon Jovi continues to stay at the top of their game, with no signs of slowing down.”
The new album’s success –which include No. 1 chart debuts in Canada, Japan and Germany, and a No. 2 debut in the UK –is fueled by the band’s current worldwide single, “We Weren’t Born To Follow.” Bon Jovi performed the song live at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on November 9th, at the gala 20th anniversary commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
The performance was underscored by their appearance on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. “We Weren’t Born To Follow” stays inside the Top 10 at Hot AC radio formats, and the video is in its 4th week on the VH1 Top 20 Countdown.
Bon Jovi’s appearance in Berlin capped two weeks of international promotion in advance of THE CIRCLE’s arrival. On Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11th, the day after the album’s U.S. release, NBC Television “Artists-In-Residence” Bon Jovi performed live at the Today Show’s Rockefeller Plaza. Two days later on Friday the 13th, Bon Jovi launched the opening of the new Best Buy store on Union Square in Manhattan.
Upcoming live TV performances include: Bravo’s Inside The Actors Studio with James Lipton (Nov. 16); Ellen DeGeneres (Nov. 23); NBC’s The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien (Nov. 20); a return to the Today Show (Nov. 25); Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (Dec. 9); and Saturday Night Live (Dec. 12).
“We Weren’t Born To Follow” was written (and co-produced) by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, and was produced by John Shanks, who worked with Bon Jovi on their last two albums: Have A Nice Day (2005), which featured the Grammy winning single, “Who Says You Can’t Go Home”; and Lost Highway (2007), which debuted at No. 1 on the Soundscan charts in the U.S. and around the world.
Bon Jovi’s 25 years on record is chronicled this year in filmmaker and photographer Phil Griffin’s documentary film Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful (produced by Radical Media); and the publication of its companion book, Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful, the first ever officially authorized Bon Jovi book (HarperCollins, October 2009).v
Bon Jovi’s “The Circle World Tour,” promoted by AEG Live, will kick off in Seattle on February 19, 2010. Over the next two years, the band will visit 30 countries for 135 shows. Bon Jovi’s last outing, the “Lost Highway World Tour,” was 2008’s top-grossing tour. Tickets for “The Circle World Tour” are on sale now for all North American concerts.
Bon Jovi has set the standard for more than two decades as one of the most successful rock bands in the world. Globally, the Grammy Award-winning band has sold more than 120 million albums and performed more than 2,600 concerts in over 50 countries for more than 34 million fans.
