SoundScanner: Bruno Mars Gets Super Bowl Boost, 'Freeze' Freezes Out The Competition
The full impact of last month's Grammy Awards is felt on this week's Nielsen SoundScan sales charts, but no Grammy act could topple the Frozen soundtrack from the top of the charts. Meanwhile, Bruno Mars benefits from both the Grammy Awards and his performance during halftime at the Super Bowl. We crunch the numbers in this week’s SoundScanner.
Frozen freezes competition: In a week where albums across the board saw increases because of the Grammys – more on that in a minute – the soundtrack to the animated blockbuster “Frozen” stays at No. 1 on SoundScan’s Top Current Albums chart. In its 10th week in stores, the album sold 94,000 copies, bringing its total sales to 863,000. The 2014 Grammy Nominees album is No. 2 for the week, with 87,000 sales, and Grammy winner Lorde sees her album “Pure Heroine” rise to No. 3. “Pure Heroine” sold 68,000 copies this week, up 86 percent from the week prior, and with 902,000 total sales it should hit platinum status later this month.
Grammys show love for Daft Punk, more: The biggest beneficiary from the Grammys, sales-wise, is Daft Punk, whose Album of the Year-winning “Random Access Memories” sees a 300 percent sales gain this week. The nine month old album rises from No. 39 to No. 10 on this week’s chart, bringing its total sales to 922,000. Other big Grammy winners include Imagine Dragons (No. 8, up 65 percent), Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (No. 11, up 62 percent), Kacey Musgraves (No. 12, up 177 percent) and Kendrick Lamar (No. 20, up 81 percent).
Bruno Mars’ Super Bowl boost: Bruno Mars was not only the recipient of a boost from the Grammys, where he won Best Pop Vocal Album, but one from the Super Bowl as well. His “Unorthodox Jukebox” is No. 7 this week, up 11 spots from last week with a 180 percent jump in sales. Mars also lands an impressive 10 songs on this week’s Digital Songs chart, the highest being “Locked Out of Heaven” (No. 32), along with “Young Girls” (No. 41), “Just the Way You Are” (No. 47), “Treasure” (No. 51), “When I Was Your Man” (No. 62), “Gorilla” (No. 130), “Runaway Baby” (No. 142), “Count On Me” (No. 174), “Grenade” (No. 189) and “Marry You” (No. 192). Mars’ halftime partners Red Hot Chili Peppers also saw some chart activity, with “Under the Bridge” and "Californication" landing at Nos. 168 and 176, respectively, while “Give It Away,” the song they actually performed – well, sort of performed – came in at No. 182.
Of Mice & Men, Casting Crowns debut high: California metal dudes Of Mice & Men score the week’s top debut with “Restoring Force,” which arrives at No. 4 with 51,000 first week sales. That trumps the group’s last effort, 2011’s “The Flood,” which peaked at No. 28 and sold 15,000 copies its first week. Florida Christian rock act Casting Crowns lands the week’s other Top 10 debut with “Thrive,” which sold 43,000 copies and debuts at No. 6. The group’s last studio album, 2011’s “Come to the Well,” impacted at No. 2 and sold 99,000 copies its first week.
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One Republic hits gold: In its 45th week on the chart, OneRebublic's third album “Native” (No. 34 this week) crosses the gold sales plateau, its 10,000 sales bringing its total to 502,000. The album’s success has been fueled by hit single "Counting Stars," which has sold 3.8 million downloads to date. “Counting Stars” is No. 14 on this week’s Digital Songs chart, one spot ahead of Daft Punk’s "Get Lucky," and it did so without the benefit of a huge Grammy win, a performance on the show or any slick robot costumes. The song has sold nearly 600,000 downloads more than “Get Lucky,” with far less being written about its cultural impact. Not bad.
[Photo: GETTY iMAGES]