The Promise
Studio album by
Il Divo
Released10 November 2008
GenreClassical crossover
LabelSyco, Columbia
ProducerSteve Mac
Il Divo chronology
Siempre
(2006) 		The Promise
(2008) 		Wicked Game
(2011)

The Promise is the fifth studio album by the classical crossover group, Il Divo. The Promise was released globally on 10 November 2008, except in the US and Canada, where it was released 17 November, Ireland and Mexico where it was released on 7 November, and Japan, on 26 November. [1] The album reached the No.1 spot in the UK on 16 November. The album was produced by Steve Mac. It was announced on 10 September, that it will be named The Promise, although the track listing was at this time not yet disclosed.[2] In early messages to people who are members of the band's official site's mailing list, it revealed to them that 'Il Divo return with their richest and most diverse album to date.' It also revealed that the album would have twelve songs. Cover songs confirmed at this time were: Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "The Power of Love"; 'a haunting and beautiful interpretation of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"'; the smouldering intensity of Lara Fabian's "Adagio"; and the fourth confirmed song then was ABBA's "The Winner Takes It All".

The Promise contains seven covers of existing songs, along with four new songs written especially for the album. The new songs included are: "La Promessa" (Italian), "Enamorado" (Spanish), "Angelina" (Spanish) and "La Luna" (Italian). Also contained on the album is a cover of the chart topping song "She" made famous by French tenor Charles Aznavour. "L'Alba Del Mondo" is an Italian adaptation of the song "I Knew I Loved You", a famous song based on "Deborah's Theme" from Once Upon A Time in America and written by Ennio Morricone. The final track on the album is a cover of the traditional hymn, "Amazing Grace".

On 24 October 2008, Il Divo flew across the ocean overnight specially for The Oprah Winfrey Show after they had been called by Winfrey on the phone on their way in the airport for a post-album recording vacation, to give a special performance on the show, where they performed the song "Amazing Grace". Following this the hymn made it into the MTV US top 20.

The album peaked No. 1 on the top classical albums on Billboard charts, and up until 12 September 2009, spent 43 straight weeks in the Top 10 list.

The album was released globally on 10 November 2008, except in the US and Canada, where it was released on 18 November 2008, Ireland where it was released on 7 November 2008, and Japan, on 26 November 2008.[3] The album reached the No.1 spot in the UK on 16 November 2008. The album was produced by Steve Mac. According to the credits on the DVDs, the bagpipes in Amazing Grace, both on this album and in the performance on the In the Coliseum DVD, are played by Robert White.[4]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."La fuerza mayor" (The Power of Love)Holly Johnson, Peter Gill, Mark O'Toole, Brian Nash, Rudy Pérez5:01
2."La Promessa"Jörgen Elofsson, Francesco Galtieri4:28
3."Adagio"Remo Giazotto, Lara Fabian4:37
4."Hallelujah" (Aleluya)Leonard Cohen3:21
5."L'alba del mondo" (I Knew I Loved You (Deborah's Theme))Ennio Morricone4:47
6."Enamorado"Andreas Romdhane y Josef Larossi, Armando Manzanero, John Reid3:15
7."Angelina"Alcarez Gómez, Gordeno, Andreas Romdhane y Josef Larossi4:32
8."Va todo al ganador" (The Winner Takes It All)Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus3:48
9."La luna"Kinnda Hamid, Marco Marinangeli, Andreas Romdhane, Josef Larossi3:51
10."She"Charles Aznavour, Herbert Kretzmer2:51
11."Amazing Grace"John Newton4:30
The Promise (Japan Edition)[5]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."Por ti vuelvo a nacer" (With You I'm Born Again)Carol Connors, David Condado3:39
The Promise (Mexican Edition)[6]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."Sortilegio De Amor"Josef Larossi, Denisse De Kalaffe3:26

Charts

Certifications and sales

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[46] Platinum 70,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[47] Gold 10,000*
Belgium (BEA)[48] Gold 15,000*
Canada — 162,000[49]
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[50] Gold 19,343[50]
Greece (IFPI Greece)[51] Gold 7,500^
Germany (BVMI)[52] Gold 100,000‡
Hungary (MAHASZ)[53] Gold 3,000^
Ireland (IRMA)[54] 2× Platinum 30,000^
Mexico (AMPROFON)[55] Gold 40,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[56] Platinum 60,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[57] Gold 7,500^
Portugal (AFP)[58] 2× Platinum 40,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[59] 2× Platinum 160,000^
Sweden (GLF)[60] Platinum 40,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[61] Platinum 30,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[62] Platinum 300,000^
United States (RIAA)[63] Gold 500,000^
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[64] Platinum 1,000,000*
Worldwide — 2,700,000[65]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ Jonathan Cohen. (5 August 2008). The album reached the No.1 spot in the UK on 16 November.New Il Divo Album Set For November. Billboard .
  2. ^ Il Divo fourth album finally named. (10 September).[1] ildivo.com Accessed 12 September
  3. ^ Cohen, Jonathan (5 August 2008). "New Il Divo Album Set For November". Billboard. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  4. ^ "Il Divo – The Promise (CD, Album)". Retrieved 15 November 2009.
  5. ^ "The Promise [B&N Exclusive Version] by Il Divo". Barnes & Noble. 18 November 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  6. ^ "Promise – Il Divo". iTunes Store (MX). Apple Inc. 3 August 2009. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  7. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Il Divo – The Promise". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  8. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Il Divo – The Promise" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Ultratop.be – Il Divo – The Promise" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  10. ^ "Ultratop.be – Il Divo – The Promise" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  11. ^ "Il Divo Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  12. ^ "Danishcharts.dk – Il Divo – The Promise". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  13. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Il Divo – The Promise" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  14. ^ "Il Divo: The Promise" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
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  18. ^ "Italiancharts.com – Il Divo – The Promise". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
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  21. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Il Divo – The Promise". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
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  24. ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Il Divo – The Promise". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  25. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Il Divo – The Promise". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  26. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Il Divo – The Promise". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
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  30. ^ "ARIA Top 100 Albums for 2008". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  31. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 2008". Ultratop. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  32. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 2008". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  33. ^ "Top de l'année Top Albums 2008" (in French). SNEP. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  34. ^ "Årslista Album – År 2008" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  35. ^ "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 2008". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
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  40. ^ "Top Canadian Albums – Year-End 2009". Billboard. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  41. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 2009". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  42. ^ "Årslista Album – År 2009" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
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  46. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2008 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  47. ^ "Austrian album certifications – Il Divo – The Promise" (in German). IFPI Austria. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  48. ^ "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – albums 2008". Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  49. ^ "The Nielsen Company 2008 Canadian Music Industry Report". Reuters. 7 January 2009. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
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  51. ^ "Ελληνικό Chart – Top 50 Ξένων Aλμπουμ" (in Greek). IFPI Greece. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  52. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Il Divo; 'The Promise')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  53. ^ "Adatbázis – Arany- és platinalemezek – 2009" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  54. ^ "The Irish Charts - 2008 Certification Awards - Multi Platinum". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  55. ^ "Certificaciones" (in Spanish). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Retrieved 29 March 2017. Type Il Divo in the box under the ARTISTA column heading and The Promise in the box under the TÍTULO column heading.
  56. ^ "Dutch album certifications – Il Divo – The Promise" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 26 May 2019. Enter The Promise in the "Artiest of titel" box. Select 2008 in the drop-down menu saying "Alle jaargangen".
  57. ^ "New Zealand album certifications – Il Divo – The Promise". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  58. ^ "Portuguese album certifications – Il Divo – The Promise" (in Portuguese). Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa. Archived from the original on 4 March 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  59. ^ "Spanish album certifications – Il Divo – The Promise". El portal de Música. Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  60. ^ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2008" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  61. ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('The Promise')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  62. ^ "British album certifications – Il Divo – The Promise". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 26 May 2019. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type The Promise in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  63. ^ "American album certifications – Il Divo – The Promise". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  64. ^ "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 2010". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  65. ^ Davis, Hazel (16 May 2009). "Full House" (PDF). Billboard. p. 32. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
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