QUICK TAKES - Feb. 19, 2009

The 2009 Grammy Awards helped give an ailing music business a bit of a Valentine’s Day gift. Overall album sales were up more than 16% over last week, reports Billboard’s chart guru Keith Caulfield. But despite the brief injection of good news, album sales were still down about 12% over the same week last year.

Benefiting the most from the awards were album of the year winners Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. The pair’s country-tinged “Raising Sand” rocketed up the chart, moving from the No. 69 position all the way to the No. 2 spot. The album sold 77,000 copies this week, according to Billboard.

Other big Grammy gainers were Coldplay and Adele. The British pop stars moved from No. 31 to No. 8, and sold 62,000 copies. Best new artist winner Adele, meanwhile, moved into the Top 10 on the U.S. pop chart. Her soulful “19” was up from No. 27 after selling 57,000 copies.

Todd Martens

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