The Grammys Sales Boost is still in effect

           Last week, some of the best records of 2011 and 2012 competed for music biggest awards, the Grammys. Whether you believe the show is an old irrelevant milestone of the industry or has started to push mainstream music, you can’t deny the awards still have pull among music buyers. In an article from the New York Daily News, Grammy winning albums, except for a few exceptions, again experienced a sales boost. The award ceremony was interesting because it presented a situation where there was no clear winner for many of the major categories, unlike the previous where Adele dominated for her album 21. The pre-telecast ceremony seemed to clear some of the mystery as the Black Keys picked up Best Rock Album, Best Rock Performance, and Best Rock Song and Mumford & Sons losing their album’s category, Best Americana Album to Bonnie Raitt. It is unusual that an album that loses its genre category and wins larger awards. However, Grammy voters turned out to spread the awards around. Record of the Year went to Gotye for “Somebody That I Used to Know,” Song of the Year went to fun. with Janelle Monae for “We Are Young,” and bucking award trends, Mumford and Sons won Album of the Year for “Babel.”

            “Babel” rode the win to boost sales 242% and put the record back atop the Billboard 200. The album’s sales went from 54,000 a week before to 185,000 the week after. The band fun.’s album “Some Nights” went up 188% to go from 14 to 7. Gotye’s “Making Mirrors” rose to number 75 boosting 100%. The Black Keys’ “El Camino,” which was released in December of 2011, rose to number 14, representing a 135% boost in sales. Even those who didn’t win any awards managed to get a boost as well, Jack White and the Alabama Shakes managed to have huge boots for their records, “Blunderbuss” and “Boys and Girls.” These numbers don’t lie and prove that while some see the Grammy awards being irrelevant, the awards clearly still have a huge impact on mainstream music buyers.