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SALT LAKE CITY — Billboard Magazine has named the Mormon Tabernacle Choir the No. 1 Traditional Classical Albums Artist for 2012.
The latest issue of the magazine includes many year-end lists. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square showed up on five of them, and twice on an albums list:
- No. 1 - Traditional Classical Albums Artist
- No. 3, No. 9 - Traditional Classical Albums (for the albums GLORY! Music of Rejoicing, and This Is the Christ, respectively)
- No. 4 - Traditional Classical Albums Imprint
- No. 5 -Traditional Classical Albums Label
- No. 12 - Classical Crossover Albums (for the album Glad Christmas Tidings, featuring David Archuleta)
The year-end charts are calculated using custom formulas that take into account product sales, streaming music, and radio play, according to a news release. The choir formed its own recording label in partnership with Deseret Book 10 years ago. Sheri Dew, president and CEO of Deseret Book, said of the Billboard honors, "This designation is much deserved and reflects the masterful music that the Choir and Orchestra produce, both in concert and recordings. It's well known that Mack Wilberg is a musical genius and this just further validates it."
The Choir has recorded nearly 200 albums over the past 100 years, with five gold records, two platinum records, and a Grammy. The Choir's weekly Music and the Spoken Word program is the world's longest-running continuous network broadcast and airs on more than 2,000 TV, radio and cable stations across the country (including KSL).
