‘Happy,’ ‘Let It Go’ enjoy post-Oscar sales bumps

Rapper Rick Ross may have the top-selling album in the U.S., but the past week was a good one to be associated with an animated film.

In the days following the March 2 telecast of the Academy Awards, songs from Disney’s “Frozen” and Universal Pictures’ “Despicable Me 2” proved that family-friendly fare still had a place among all the tongue-waving and drink-induced salaciousness on the pop charts.

Hollywood’s biggest night didn’t propel Pharrell Williams to the top of the U.S. albums chart with his latest record, “Girl,” but the Academy Awards certainly did wonders for his Oscar-nominated single “Happy.” The slinky little soul number from animated film “Despicable Me 2” is once again the bestselling download in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

With an additional 490,000 downloads purchased, “Happy” has now tallied more than 2.6 million in single sales. For “Happy,” the week following the Oscar telecast has been its best ever in sales, and it’s the strongest performance by a single since Katy Perry’s “Roar” sold 557,000 downloads last summer, reports Billboard.

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Yet all the good will for “Happy” wasn’t enough to keep rapper Ross from earning another No. 1 album. His “Mastermind” outsold Williams’ “Girl,” giving Ross his fifth chart topper. “Mastermind,” for those scoring at home, sold 179,000 copies, compared with the 112,000 totaled by “Girl.”

The Oscar-winning song “Let It Go” from Disney’s “Frozen” also turned in its best sales week. Sung in the film by Idina Menzel and performed by her at the Oscar telecast, the self-empowerment anthem sold an additional 185,00 downloads, giving it a total of 1.7 million to date.

The soundtrack to “Frozen” continues to perform well too. It’s at No. 3 on the album chart this week, bringing in about 100,00 in sales. To date, the film companion has sold 1.3 million copies.

“Frozen” is the only holdover in the top 5 on the album chart. At No. 4 is the solo debut from “Glee” star Lea Michele, “Louder,” which sold almost 60,000 copies; coming in at No. 5 is country’s Eli Young with “10,000 Towns,” which sold 36,000 copies.

Beck’s latest, “Morning Phase,” dips from the No. 3 spot to No. 6, selling 33,000 copies this week, and last week’s chart-topper, Schoolboy Q’s “Oxymoron,” falls to No. 8. “Oxymoron” sold 30,000 copies this week.

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