Mariah Emancipated, Again : Rolling Stone

Even after Mariah Carey put out The Emancipation of Mimi, which went on to sell 4 million copies and become the second-best-selling album of 2005, she kept going back into the studio. So on November 15th, Carey is putting her album out again with four new tracks -- as did 50 Cent and the Killers, who revamped hot albums and saw them shoot back up the charts. "We came up with a couple of songs that I wanted to put out," says Antonio "LA" Reid, chairman of Carey's label, Island Def Jam. "My idea was to continue to create demand for the music."

The Emancipation of Mimi -- Ultra Platinum Edition includes the single "Don't Forget About Us," co-produced by Jermaine Dupri; a remix of "We Belong Together," featuring Jadakiss and Styles P.; the Twista collaboration "So Lonely (One and Only Part 2)," with a new verse by Carey; and the midtempo "Making It Last All Night (What It Do)" featuring Dupri. (A limited-edition version is also available with a bonus DVD of videos.)

Labels have been searching for quick sales boosts for the past five years, when revenues began a steady decline; CD sales are down ten percent so far this year. "If they can take an album that's been successful and add a couple of songs to it, there's a chance there's a Mariah Carey fan going, 'I've got to get this one too,'" says Todd Cavanah, program director for Chicago's B96.3, which put Carey's new "Don't Forget About Us" into heavy rotation.

The strategy paid off for 50 Cent, whose The Massacre jumped from Number Thirty-five to Number Two on the Billboard charts in September, after he released a special edition with videos. In August, the Killers' rereleased Hot Fuss shot from Number Twenty-nine to Number Eleven. Elton John is reissuing 2004's Peachtree Road on November 22nd, with a live DVD and three new songs, and Beck will put out a remixed version of Guero on December 13th. "Music's popularity is at an all-time high, while we're in a business that seems to suffer from CD sales," Reid says. "It's really for the revival and the greater good of our business."