Paloma Faith, Royal Blood among acts to see album sales surge after BRIT Awards

Royal Blood, Paloma Faith and the holy trinity of British males - Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and George Ezra - have all seen an immediate sales surge following last night’s BRIT Awards.

In an exciting night that showcased the outstanding success of British music of the past 12 months, led in particular by Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith with two BRITs each, other acts with cause to celebrate the BRIT Awards 2015 include Royal Blood, Paloma Faith and George Ezra – whose stand out performances enabled them to reach a much wider national audience and enjoy significant week-to-date sales lifts – according to Official Charts Company data.  

The uplift was driven by digital downloads, although with the remainder of the week still to come, the impact will also be felt across audio streaming services and on high street and online via increased sales of CDs and vinyl.

Rock band Royal Blood, who received the BRIT Award for Best British Group from Led Zeppelin icon Jimmy Page before thrilling the audience with their bone-shaking performance of Figure it Out, saw demand for their self-titled album surge 209 per cent – it is now on course for Number 5 in the Official Albums Chart yesterday (after being on course for 16 yesterday).

Paloma Faith, who was voted Best British Female Artist, enjoyed an equally impressive 130 per cent sales lift for her acclaimed album A Perfect Contradiction - while her performance of Only Love Can Hurt Like This has seen a massive uplift of 189 per cent.  

George Ezra, who was nominated for 4 awards including Best Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act, saw sales of his debut album Wanted On Voyage rise 75 per cent, though demand for British Single-nominated Budapest, which he also performed on the night, doubled (108 per cent).

Sheeran and Smith also saw big sales lifts to go with their double awards triumph.  Ed Sheeran’s X saw a 73 per cent increase in sales, while the song he performed, Bloodstream, saw the largest increase of all the songs performed on the night – up a huge 211 per cent.  

Sam Smith benefitted hugely also from the awards. His album In the Lonely Hour is up 78 per cent, while the song he performed, Lay me Down, rose 95 per cent.  Madonna, who showed what a true professional she is, has also seen sales of her greatest hits album Celebration rise 62 per cent, while Taylor Swift has seen a 52 per cent pick-up in demand for her album 1989.   

BPI’s Gennaro Castaldo said: "The BRITs always have a galvanising effect on artist sales, and with such an acclaimed show and stand-out performances that everyone’s been talking about, we’re seeing a significant lift in demand for a lot of the music featured in the show.  

"With the remainder of the week still to come, this is shaping up to be one of the most impactful BRITs for years."

Top 10 performing acts to benefit most from the BRITs effect (based on sales % lift in album release only)

Source: BPI/Official Charts Company