Pop Music

Billboard sez the Grammy Awards were the big factor in sales this week, and who am I to argue? Not with Taylor Swift regaining the number-one spot with Fearless, Coldplay's Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends making a U-turn and heading from number 31 back to number 8 and most dramatically, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant's Album of the Year-winning Raising Sand heading from number 69 back to number 2, equaling its chart peak from 2007.

The big debuts were India.Arie's Testimony: Vol. 2, Love & Politics, in at number 3, and Lily Allen's It's Not Me, It's You, in at number 5.

The Fray's self-titled album dips from number 1 to number 4.

After last week's disturbing statistical report, this week Billboard compares the number 10 spot and it's a little more encouraging:

• The No. 10 album this week, Adele's 19 (XL/Columbia/Sony Music), sold 57,000.

• The No. 10 album for the same week of 2008, the soundtrack to Step Up 2: The Streets (Atlantic/AG), sold 45,000.

• Average total of the No. 10 album for the same week of the year during the past 10 years (2000-2009): 79,111.

Of course, the Grammy factor probably has something to do with this year's bump.

 Tags  Alison Krauss Billboard Robert Plant Taylor Swift

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