Brits effect boosts Adele sales

Adele with her two awards in the press room at the 2012 Brit Awards at The O2 Arena

Published: 7:43pm, 22nd February 2012
Updated: 1:05pm, 23rd February 2012

Adele's Brit Awards have proved yet another instant sales boost, despite her abrupt exit from the stage.

She and other winners such as Ed Sheeran and Blur have seen a huge upsurge in sales of both CDs and downloads.

Retailer HMV reports that its sales of Adele's album 21 have risen by almost 750% in the wake of her Brits win, compared to the previous week - even though it has already shifted nearly four million copies in the past year.

Adele won best album and best British female at the awards bash, but her triumphant speech was cut short.

The other big winner, according to the firm, is Ed Sheeran who also won two Brits. He is experiencing a 643% boost.

The Brits effect is also borne out by the iTunes chart which saw many of the winners dominating the upper reaches. Winners, and a Brits compilation, filled the entire top eight of the download sales chart.

Adele took top spot with 21, while two different versions of Sheeran's + were at two and three.

Blur's Best Of and Lana Del Rey's Born To Die were also flying high.

HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said that with so many people already owning 21, the expectation would have been only a small increase in sales, but that has not proved to be the case.

"You'd think that any sales increase from last night's ceremony would be relatively modest, but instead the opposite seems to be the case. Ironically, it's possible the embarrassing interruption to her acceptance speech has actually worked in Adele's favour, as it's helped to generate more coverage and earned even more sympathy for her."