Singer Estelle Falls Down The Charts After Her Album's Removal From iTunes

September 1, 2008 2:18 p.m. EST

Los Angeles, CA (CNS) - R&B/hip-hop songstress Estelle failed to shine at the U.S. charts after her album and single was taken out from iTunes, causing her to plummet in the charts.

Her record label, Warner, removed the releases from iTunes to encourage fans to buy her CD, thinking that the physical copies of her songs would earn more money for the company.

However, the plan backfired as her single "American Boy," which had been sitting steadily at No. 11 in the U.S. Billboard singles chart suddenly drops down to No. 37 after it has been removed from iTunes.

Her album Shine also dropped to 159 after its debut at No. 38.

A Warner spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that the removal of Estelle's LP from iTunes was just part of a strategy "uniquely tailored to each artist and their fanbase in an effort to optimize and promote long term artist development."