Usher Crowned the 'King of Pop' By Billboard

Usher Crowned the 'King of Pop' By Billboard Superstar Caps Off An Incredible Year With The World Premiere of His Mini-Movie 'Rhythm City Volume 1: Caught Up' Airing on 'New Year's Eve: Live From Times Square With Ryan Seacrest,' Friday, December 31 on FOX NEW YORK, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently crowned "The King of Pop" by Billboard after his total domination in 2004, Usher will ring in the New Year right with the debut of his mini-movie, "Rhythm City Volume 1: Caught Up." Usher's never-before-seen 20-minute mini-movie will feature four songs from Billboard's No. 1 Album of the Year, Confessions: "Seduction," "Caught Up," "Red Light," and "Take Your Hand." The mini-movie will air on FOX during "New Year's Eve: Live from Times Square with Ryan Seacrest." American Idol's Seacrest, who makes a cameo in Usher's mini-movie, will host the special for the third time. The mini-movie caps off an incredible year for the pop superstar, which saw him break records in sales and airplay. Originally released in March 2004, Confessions sold a record breaking 1.1 million copies in its first week, the highest ever R&B debut. A special edition with four additional songs (including #1 hit "My Boo") was released in September 2004. All told Confessions has sold over 8 million copies in the US thus far, making it the year's top selling CD. In addition to dominating sales, Usher ruled the airwaves this year as well. In 2004 Usher spent an unprecedented 28 weeks atop Billboard's Hot 100 Singles & Tracks chart, spanned over 4 hit singles ("Yeah!," "Burn," "Confessions Part II," and "My Boo"). This marks the first time an artist has held the number one spot for more than half the year and the first time an artist has had four #1s in a calendar year since the Jackson 5 did it in 1970. At one point, Usher had three singles in the Top Ten in one week; the only other artists to do so were the Bee Gees and the Beatles. Between his incredible sales and airplay, it's no wonder that Usher raked in an astounding 11 Billboard awards and has netted 8 GRAMMY nominations for the upcoming 47th Grammy Awards on February 13, 2005. This year also saw Usher expand his reach to include the title of businessman, with his US Records label (where he is developing newly signed acts to be released in Fall 2005) and the launch of his Usher Raymond IV Debit MasterCard - the first affinity MasterCard since Elvis Presley to feature the likeness of a recording artist. As busy as his 2004 has been, Usher is hitting the ground running in 2005. He is already hard at work shooting a new movie in Los Angeles for Lion's Gate Films called "Dying for Dolly." "Dying for Dolly" and his mini-movie are not his first forays into acting - he has previously been seen in the films "Light It Up," "She's All That" and "The Faculty." Fans can tune in to "New Year's Eve: Live from Times Square with Ryan Seacrest" Friday, Dec. 31 (11:00 PM-12:30 AM ET Live/PT Tape-Delayed) on FOX. Source: J-Pat Management CONTACT: Simone Smalls of Susan Blond, Inc, +1-212-333-7728 ext. 118, simone@susanblondinc.com, for J-Pat Management ------- Profile: International Entertainment