Inside Music with Melinda Newman

Mumford & Sons, Frank Ocean, Rihanna see Grammy Awards sales bump

Performing acts and winners garner immediate gains

By Melinda Newman Tuesday, Feb 12, 2013 8:07 PM

Mumford & Sons celebrate their two Grammy wins backstage.

Credit: Matt Sayles/Invision/AP

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We’ll have a better read tomorrow after the official Nielsen SoundScan numbers are in, but it looks like Frank Ocean’s “Channel Orange” may be the big winner from Sunday night’s Grammy Awards.

Even though the Contemporary Urban R&B album winner’s performance of “Forrest Gump” received only lukewarm reviews (Ocean later tweeted that he couldn’t hear his keyboards), Billboard reports that the albums sales could be up as much as 120% over the previous week.

Even an album like Mumford & Sons’ “Babel,” which is still in the Top 10 on the Billboard 200, is getting a big boost after winning album of the year. The track could receive as much as a 50% boost to 55,000 copies, up from 36,000 copies this week.

The biggest digital gainer by the actual numbers looks to be the Lumineers’ “Ho Hey,” which will sell up to 140,000 downloads this week, up 17%. By percentage, look for fun’s “Carry On” to be up 131% over the previous week’s downloads and song of the year winner “We Are Young” to soar 150 to 50,000. Rihanna’s new single “Stay” looks like it see gains of 200% to 65,000, and Miguel’s “Adorn” will also be up 200% to 40,000.

As Grammy watchers know, a performance traditionally does more to move sales along than a win.

It’s important to note that SoundScan closes at midnight Sunday night, so the biggest gains will register next week after a full week of -post Grammy sales. Plus, next week’s numbers will also include Valentine’s Day, which has turned into a tent pole day for album sales.