Wednesday, 21 September 2011

Beyonce, Adele, Lil Wayne Get VMA Bump On iTunes

Up-and-coming rockers Young the Giant also among those benefitting from post-show sales boost.
By Gil Kaufman


Beyoncé performs at the 2011 VMAs
Photo: Getty Images

Beyoncé's surprise pregnancy reveal wasn't the only bump to show up this week. A number of artists also got an expected iTunes VMA bump, as their singles shot up the iTunes digital charts in the wake of their performances on the record-setting broadcast.

The biggest leap was made by Adele, whose second single, "Someone Like You," shot right up to #1 on the tally in the wake of her dramatic appearance on the broadcast, a rise of 441 percent. The song was not even in the top 10 when iTunes released the charts for the week ending August 22. Though iTunes does not release sales figures, there was clearly some serious online purchasing that went on, in addition to a major flood of Twitter traffic caused by the VMAs.

Among the other beneficiaries were Lady Gaga, whose Jo Calderone-fueled take on "Yoü and I" pushed that song back into the top 10 to #4 as of Thursday (September 1). And, after dropping Tha Carter IV at midnight on Sunday, Lil Wayne was all over, with "Mirror" moving into the #5 position, "Blunt Blowin' " at #13, "MegaMan" at #23 and "How to Love" at #15.

Beyoncé herself had a boost from the night, as her "Love on Top" performance pushed the not-officially-released-as-a-single single to #3 (currently at #9) as sales picked up by 221 percent. Pre-show performers Cobra Starship were feeling the love also, as "You Make Me Feel" moved up to #6 after having faded to #11 before the broadcast.

Also benefitting were rockers Young the Giant, whose performance likely helped breakthrough single, "My Body," shoot up 223 percent to land at #2 on the alternative singles charts and #24 on the overall chart. The band's self-titled disc also saw some serious love, with sales expanding by 220 percent, moving up to #4 on the iTunes album chart. House artist Jessie J got the bump as well, with sales of her album, Who You Are shooting up nearly 200 percent.

Chris Brown's high-flying VMA medley also pushed him up the charts, as his singles "Beautiful People" and "Yeah 3X" soared by 904 and 149 percent, respectively, on the iTunes singles chart.

The love was spread far and wide, as evidenced by the 1,375 percent jump for Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse's version of "Valerie" — performed by Bruno Mars during the Amy Winehouse tribute — and the Foo Fighters' VMA-winning "Walk," which had a 120 percent jump on the iTunes singles chart. Sales of Britney Spears' "Till the World Ends" were up 76 percent on the iTunes singles chart after the song was heard in the Britney tribute to the pop star and Pitbull's summer jam "Give Me Everything" surged 71 percent on the iTunes song tally following his performance.

The 28th annual MTV Video Music Awards have wrapped, but the real action is just getting started! Stick with MTV News for winners, fashion pics, video and behind-the-scenes stories about everything that went down. Visit VMA.MTV.com for the latest.

Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists

Dancehall Music

No comments:

Post a Comment