Norah's golden aura = album sales
Grammys lift 'Come Away' back to No. 1
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Her debut release "Come Away With Me" (Blue Note) sold more than 621,000 copies in the session ended Sunday, according to data compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. Boffo gain puts the cume to date for "Come Away" at 4.2 million, with sales topping 9 million worldwide.
The increase also marks the biggest boost that an artist has received from a Grammy triumph in recent memory. Last year's big winners, Alicia Keys and the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack, logged percentage gains of 115% and 258%, respectively, on sales of 209,00 and just under 103,000.
Blue Note topper Bruce Lundvall says that although the record has been out for a year now, the gradual build-up of visibility means there are still audiences out there that are picking up the record for the first time.
"Now we're reaching out for a younger audience that we never were at the beginning, and the radio play is starting to pick up dramatically," he told Daily Variety. "Real artists have long-term careers, and there are people that are discovering her every single day."
Jones also knocked former No. 1 R. Kelly down to third place. In its sophomore week, sales of the legally embattled R&B crooner's latest CD "Chocolate Factory" (Jive Records) slipped by more than 50% to 238,000 units.
Jones wasn't the other big Grammy winner to send record buyers rushing to the shelves last week. Country trio the Dixie Chicks, who took home four awards, boosted sales of their album "Home" (Open Wide/Columbia) by 60% to 202,000, holding steady in fourth place.
Triple Grammy winner Bruce Springsteen's latest release "The Rising" (Columbia) shot up 82 places to No. 27, as sales more than tripled to 36,000. John Mayer, who grabbed a Grammy for male pop vocal performance, vaulted to 8 from 17, on a sales gain of 115%.
Double winners Eminem and Coldplay also felt the bump: Sales of Slim Shady's "The Eminem Show" (Shady/Interscope) rose 40% to 63,000, while Coldplay's "A Rush of Blood to the Head" (Capitol) gained 46% to land just shy of 62,000 units.
Even the Grammy Awards themselves managed to cash in on the sales phenom. Sales of the "Grammy Nominees 2003" compilation from Warner Strategic Marketing shot up by 76% to nearly 113,000 units, as the release gained four spots on the chart to sixth.
All of the winners who saw sales bumps also performed on the show. No Doubt played on the telecast, and its 14-month-old disc "Rock Steady" jumped 38 places, to No. 68, on sales of 17,000-plus, a 70% jump.
The Grammy surge overshadowed a small crop of new releases making their way on to the charts this week, including Roc-A-Fella rap act Freeway, who bowed in fifth place with "Philadelphia Freeway" (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam). Further down the line, New Orleans rapper B.G. opened at 21 with "Livin' Legend" (Koch Entertainment).
Elektra's soundtrack to the WB show "Smallville" registered sales of almost 33,000 to land at No. 31. The album has been heavily promoted through an array of AOL Time Warner assets, including the online service, the TV show's plot and the publishing divisions.
Next week will see new material on the charts from two big hip-hop stars: Lil' Kim and Fabolous. Later in the month, keep an eye out for "Meteora," the latest effort from Warner Music's blockbuster rap-rock collective Linkin Park.
