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Rihanna, Mumford & Sons, Frank Ocean get early Grammy sales boosts

Rihanna performs at the 55th Grammy Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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At the Grammys on Sunday, Rihanna’s “We Found Love” won an award for short form video during the pre-telecast. But her label is likely more excited about the resulting sales bump.

By the end of Sunday night, her ballad “Stay,” which she performed during the ceremony, had sold 67,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, a nearly 300% bump. And that’s just figures tabulated through Sunday evening.

While the full Grammy effect won’t be evident until the Feb. 20 charts, acts that graced the stage and walked away winners are already enjoying an early surge in sales.

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Aside from Rihanna, Fun., Mumford & Sons, the Black Keys, Miguel and Frank Ocean have also enjoyed boosts, which are expected to continue.

Mumford & Sons’ “Babel” had scored a 50% bump in sales, moving more than 54,000 copies and landing at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart, by the time the English folk band was celebrating its album of the year win.

Fun.’s “Some Nights,” Ocean’s “Channel Orange,” the Black Keys’ “El Camino,” Gotye’s “Making Mirrors” and Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” are among the albums that scored sales gains of 50% or more compared to the previous week. Ocean had the biggest jump, with his critically acclaimed “Channel Orange” having a 140% uptick in sales after it won urban contemporary album.

Miguel’s lush slow-burner “Adorn,” which he performed on the telecast and which was awarded a Grammy for R&B; song, had its best sales week to date having moved 44,000 units (it was up 229%). Singles performed during the 3½-hour telecast from Fun., Mumford & Sons and the Black Keys all enjoyed triple digit bumps.

Although iTunes is the world’s largest music retailer, Amazon will play a critical role in influencing the charts over the coming week. The retailer is selling Grammy titles such as “Some Nights,” the Lumineers’ self-titled debut and the Black Keys’ “El Camino” for $3.99 or less.

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Grammy-featured singles such as the Lumineers’ feel-good sing-along “Ho Hey,” Beyoncé’s “Love on Top,” Jack White’s “Freedom at 21” and Miranda Lambert’s “Over You” are currently on sale at Amazon for 69 cents or less, a bargain compared to the $1.29 charged by iTunes for the same tracks.

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Last year, after Adele’s “21” was named album of the year, she earned the biggest sales week of her career, as the album sold 730,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. That number is especially impressive because “21” had already been available for a year at the time of the 2012 Grammy Awards.

Adele’s “21” was the largest-ever post-Grammy sales bump. Previously, the record was held by Norah Jones, whose “Come Away With Me” sold 621,000 copies the week after she won five Grammys at the 2003 telecast. How much of an effect were the Grammys on those numbers? Jones’ “Come Away With Me” sold 144,000 copies in the week prior to the Grammys.

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