It was all about the Grammy Awards this week on the Billboard 200 chart, as album of the year winner Mumford & Sons returned to No. 1 with Babel. The set, released last September, climbed three rungs to No. 1 this week with 185,000 sold (up 242% compared to its previous week’s sales). The entire top 10 was basically an all-Grammys affair, with seven of the titles in region profiting from exposure on the Feb. 10 Grammy Awards.
As for the rest of the chart, there were of course — as always — some movers and shakers. Let’s take a closer look at some of them:
— “Pitch Perfect” Soundtrack – With another 37,000 sold (up 15%, down three to No. 16), its total sales rise to 505,000 — marking the first soundtrack to sell a half-million since The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, which hit the mark in the SoundScan week ending April 1, 2012.
— Alabama Shakes: Coming off a week where the band garnered exposure on the Grammy Awards (where it was nominated for best new artist) and a performance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (Feb. 16), the band’s Boys & Girlsalbum has its second-best sales week yet (30,000; up 130%, jumping 43-20).
— Bob Marley and the Wailers: Bob Marley was celebrated in a tribute medley during the Grammy Awards, which helps explain the gain for his mega-selling greatest hits album (rising 99-34). It sold 20,000 last week — up 269%. It was also sale priced by iTunes for $6.99.
— “Smash” / “Bombshell:” The niche soundtrack to the show-within-a-show on NBC’s musical-drama “Smash” debuts with 16,000 at No. 43. The original “Smash” TV soundtrack only sold more than that in its first three weeks of release.
— Led Zeppelin: The LP version of the live Celebration Day album finally reached retail last week, helping to prompt its overall 57% sales increase. It climbs 105-75. On the Vinyl Albums chart, it debuts at No. 1 with a little over 2,000 LPs sold.
— Lynyrd Skynyrd: Its greatest hits album 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection has sold 2.84 million, making it the biggest-seller in the long-running “Masters” series. It’s one of nine million-sellers for the compilation brand, which has released hundreds of albums under the “20th Century Masters” banner.
— Rihanna: The diva’s latest album, Unapologetic (No. 15 this week on the chart), has sold 720,000 in its first 13 weeks of release. It is selling at a faster rate than her previous album, 2011’s “Talk That Talk,” which moved 674,000 in its first 13 weeks.
— “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” Soundtrack: The film’s Feb. 12 home video release on DVD spurs a 326% sales gain for its soundtrack. With 3,000 sold, it debuts at No. 194 — five months after its Sept. 18 release. It’s also the best sales week yet for the album, which has now sold 29,000 to date. [Billboard.biz]
