iTunes sales surge for Daft Punk, John Legend, and more following the 56th GRAMMY Awards

The GRAMMY Awards are often described as Music’s Biggest Night. While the awards ceremony typically lives up to the moniker with star-studded performances and gramophone trophies for hundreds of artists across many genres each year, iTunes charts also show how music sales are impacted, providing the year’s first prominent sales increase following the post-Christmas bump fueled by gift card redemptions. Many of the songs featured during the 56th GRAMMY Awards broadcast on January 26 received significant jumps on the iTunes song chart throughout and following the show, and numerous songs heard in its music-centric commercials felt the benefit of exposure as well. The statistics below reflect positions on the US iTunes chart of about 1500 songs, tracked from the beginning of the broadcast in the Eastern time zone at 8:00pm to the end of the Western time zone broadcast at 2:40am Eastern.

Among songs already on the chart at the beginning of the Eastern broadcast, Metallica’s 1989 single “One” received the night’s biggest jump, flying from #758 to #125 by the end of the Western show following their performance of the song with pianist Lang Lang. With Daft Punk’s wins for Album of the Year (Random Access Memories) and Record of the Year (“Get Lucky”), as well as their standout medley with Stevie Wonder, Pharrell Williams, and Nile Rodgers, the winning single jumped from #67 to #10, whereas Pharrell-assisted single “Lose Yourself To Dance” was the night’s second-biggest mover, up from #826 at 8:00pm to #183 at 2:40am. Daft Punk tracks “Harder Better Faster Stronger” (#702) and “Around The World” (#946) both entered the iTunes chart’s top 1000 following their features in the medley. Though Katy Perry’s GRAMMY-nominated song “Roar” failed to score either of its nominations, it held fairly steady throughout the night, dropping only one spot from #18 to #19, while “Dark Horse,” which was performed early in the broadcast along with Juicy J, held its chart-topping position throughout the entire evening. Prism album track “This Is How We Do” saw the third-biggest increase, moving from #935 to #458 after being featured in a new CoverGirl commercial.

As is typical with the GRAMMYs, several songs premiered on GRAMMY Sunday and appropriately saw large sales. Hunter Hayes debuted new single “Invisible” for his GRAMMYs performance; though the track was already up to #271 when the broadcast began, having been released for purchase shortly beforehand, it surged up to #9 by 2:40am. Taylor Swift’s first live performance of Red album track “All Too Well” entered the chart and rose to #28, and a newly-recorded version of Imagine Dragons hit “Radioactive” featuring a rapped verse by Kendrick Lamar reached #63 by the end of the West Coast show. (The original version of the single moved from #35 to #22, while Kendrick Lamar’s “m.A.A.d City,” which features MC Eiht on the good kid, m.A.A.d city recording, jumped from #181 to #71 after its use within the “Radioactive” performance.) Low-profile commercial synchronizations kept Austin Mahone and Pitbull’s new single “Mmm Yeah” (featured in an Aquafina FlavorSplash ad, for which Mahone is the Digital & Brand Strategist), and Zedd’s Matthew Koma and Miriam Bryant collaboration “Find You” (featured in a new campaign for Bud Light Platinum) mostly stagnant: “Mmm Yeah” slid from #2 to #4 on its first day of sales, while “Find You” dropped from #81 to #94.

Many other songs performed during the GRAMMYs received sales boosts as well. P!nk’s The Truth About Love hit single “Try” saw the biggest rise of songs already on the chart at the beginning of the show, rising from #217 to #45, followed by Kacey Musgraves’s “Follow Your Arrow,” which rose from #144 to #20. Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear’s “Cut Me Some Slack” saw the biggest entry after the night had ended, with the Sound City: Real to Reel soundtrack song entering the chart at #136.

Song features in commercials helped boost several previously-released singles on the iTunes chart as well. While John Legend’s performed single “All Of Me” was launched from #38 to #3, his Love In The Future track “Made To Love” entered by 10:00pm and rose to #132 by 2:40am as a result of its feature in an ad for the Chevrolet Impala. A slew of Target commercials advertising their high-profile brand partnerships filled multiple commercial breaks throughout the night, causing sales bumps for The Band Perry’s “DONE.” (#441 – #133), Prince Royce’s “Darte un Beso” (#782 – #474), Justin Timberlake’s “Mirrors” (#111 – #70), and Shakira’s Rihanna-featured “Can’t Remember To Forget You” (#115 – #96 following three premiere airings of the spot advertising her upcoming Target deluxe release of her self-titled album on March 25). (Though Janelle Monáe and Erykah Badu were heard on “Q.U.E.E.N.” for an ad for Monáe’s The Electric Lady, the track failed to chart within the top 1500.)

Along with the aforementioned “Q.U.E.E.N.,” only a few songs failed to reach the top 1500 on iTunes throughout the night. Firstly, Madonna’s “Open Your Heart” appeared at #597 at the end of the Eastern broadcast at 11:40pm, but had fallen back off the chart a few hours later despite a heavily-buzzed-about feature within Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert’s “Same Love.” Other songs heard but not charted included Chic’s “Le Freak,” heard within the Daft Punk medley; Lang Lang’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Concerto No. 1” used during the annual In Memoriam segment; and Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” used in a Sony advertisement. Three tracks performed on the show had not made the chart by 2:40am, but appeared by Monday afternoon: Queens of the Stone Age’s “My God Is The Sun” (#1023), Stevie Wonder’s “Another Star” (#1372), and Black Sabbath’s “God Is Dead?” (#1387).

A full list of songs heard throughout the GRAMMYs and how their sales were affected is available below, featuring US iTunes sales statistics pulled from LivePopBars. All times displayed in the header correspond to the Eastern time zone. Songs with a zero in a cell indicate that the song was not found within the chart at the time the data was pulled. Some discrepancies may be present in the lower range of the chart due to data loading issues in the chart’s lower reaches.

 8:00pm9:00pm10:00pm11:00pm11:40pm1:00am2:00am2:40am8:00pm → 2:40am
Aloe Blacc - "Love Is The Answer"413423427440450442442440-27
Austin Mahone featuring Pitbull - "Mmm Yeah"22223334-2
Beyoncé featuring JAY Z - "Drunk In Love"261817151716161610
Black Sabbath - "God Is Dead?"000000000
Blake Shelton featuring Pistol Annies & Friends - "Boys Round Here"14314114213412612112312023
Bruno Mars - "Locked Out Of Heaven"808078664644444238
Bruno Mars - "Treasure"12312612711711511311311211
Bruno Mars - "When I Was Your Man"979898716864675938
Carole King - "Beautiful"000000000
Chic - "Le Freak"000000000
Chicago - "Beginnings"000001127122811000
Chicago - "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?"004343233172782912780
Chicago - "Saturday In The Park"004773543433073293020
Daft Punk - "Around The World"00000118412979460
Daft Punk - "Harder Better Faster Stronger"000008239187020
Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers - "Get Lucky"675838341513141057
Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams - "Lose Yourself To Dance"826785732620439320367284542
Darius Rucker - "Wagon Wheel"107108112118120124121128-21
Ed Sheeran - "The A Team"20516515414914814514414560
Ellie Goulding - "Explosions"17718218415615415815715522
Gary Clark Jr. - "Ain't Messin 'Round"0004924664024623850
Hunter Hayes - "Invisible"2716019131210119262
Imagine Dragons - "Radioactive"353537272422232213
Imagine Dragons featuring Kendrick Lamar - "Radioactive"0000239114162630
J Cole featuring Miguel - "Power Trip"464460464269265266262258206
James Blake - "Retrograde"714453406377350327334306408
Janelle Monae featuring Erykah Badu - "Q.U.E.E.N."000000000
Jason Aldean - "Night Train"1541581601531441471431477
JAY Z featuring Beyoncé - "Part II (On The Run)"724713707505484477478450274
JAY Z featuring Justin Timberlake - "Holy Grail"121123116837974777348
John Legend - "All Of Me"3838146444335
John Legend - "Made To Love"0014861441421331421320
Justin Timberlake - "Mirrors"111113100807370727041
Justin Timberlake featuring JAY Z - "Suit & Tie"20820314513313212912912979
Kacey Musgraves - "Follow Your Arrow"1441391403229262720124
Kacey Musgraves - "Merry Go 'Round"2592342231461079610190169
Katy Perry - "Roar"1817181719191919-1
Katy Perry - "This Is How We Do"935900496468467456458458477
Katy Perry featuring Juicy J - "Dark Horse"111111110
Keith Urban - "Cop Car"13413471585653565282
Kendrick Lamar - "Swimming Pools (Drank)"19618918915814914414614254
Kendrick Lamar featuring Mary J. Blige - "Now Or Never"00000107711259250
Kendrick Lamar featuring MC Eiht - "m.A.A.d City"1811771779486768171110
Lana Del Rey - "Once Upon A Dream"000000000
Lana Del Rey - "Ride"14770000115711701093384
Lang Lang - "Piano Concerto No. 1 in B"000000000
Lorde - "Royals"1591111867510
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - "Can't Hold Us"594343444139404019
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Mary Lambert - "Same Love"1019792905441433665
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz - "Thrift Shop"14112412211911210310610041
Madonna - "Open Your Heart"00005970000
Merle Haggard - "Okie From Muskogee"000001331134911750
Metallica - "One"758755749706158136140125633
Michael Jackson - "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"000000000
Muse - "Panic Station"000001489013700
Mötley Crue - "Home Sweet Home"0002432412462442300
Nazareth - "Love Hurts"00010320104110329140
Nine Inch Nails - "Copy Of A"000000014790
P!nk - "Try"2172162116052495245172
P!nk featuring Nate Ruess - "Just Give Me A Reason"716247221818181754
Paul McCartney - "New"0000097710468780
Paul McCartney - "Queenie Eye"0004853543303392830
Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, & Pat Smear - "Cut Me Some Slack"0001511501401511360
Pitbull featuring Christina Aguilera - "Feel This Moment"212215216228237236236241-29
Prince Royce - "Darte un Beso"782780776807517505508474308
Queens of the Stone Age - "My God Is The Sun"000000000
Rihanna featuring Mikky Ekko - "Stay"131122104999590919140
Ringo Starr - "Photograph"0003302902892882620
Robin Thicke featuring T.I. & Pharrell - "Blurred Lines"343227282625252410
Sara Bareilles - "Brave"252628231414131213
Shakira featuring Rihanna - "Can't Remember To Forget You"11510610610710497989619
Stevie Wonder - "Another Star"000000000
Taylor Swift - "All Too Well"00110835333132280
Taylor Swift - "I Knew You Were Trouble."17817816414513012512811959
The Band Perry - "DONE."441449463142137141137133308
The Everly Brothers - "When Will I Be Loved"000008769837710
The Highwaymen - "Highwayman"00008887627926740
The Rolling Stones - "Doom And Gloom"0000097610849200
Tim McGraw - "Southern Girl"29929729727722222422421980
Willie Nelson - "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys"000001166117510440
Wiz Khalifa featuring The Weeknd - "Remember You"0004644324224243770
Zedd featuring Matthew Koma & Miriam Bryant - "Find You"8182849191929294-13

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