It’s been nearly two weeks since the GRAMMYs rocked television screens, but many viewers are still talking about the night’s biggest winner – Jon Batiste.
Walking away with five of the 11 awards he was nominated for (including Album of the Year), Batiste delivered one of the ceremony’s most memorable performances and biggest upsets.
In addition to joining an exclusive club of Black winners of the prestigious honor (only Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, Michael Jackson, Lauryn Hill, Natalie Cole, Whitney Houston, Outkast, and Quincy Jones boast ownership of the trophy over the show’s 64 years), Jon made history when sales of his album, ‘We Are,’ soared as a result of winning.
Details inside:
Billboard reported:
“[‘We Are’] rallies a whopping 2,746% to 18,000 units earned for the week. It’s easily the album’s best week yet in terms of both units and chart rank. The set previously spent just one week on the chart, when it debuted at No. 86 on the April 3, 2021-dated list.”
Variety elaborated on the report by saying:
“Inevitably seeing a big increase among individual Batiste songs was his single “Freedom,” nominated for record of the year, which he performed on the Grammy telecast at the completion of a medley. That song was up 1046% in streaming from the two days before the show to the Sunday-Monday frame that included the telecast. But it was the title song of his winning album, “We Are,” that got the biggest boost between those time frames, up 2045%.
Song sales were also up dramatically for Batiste. The difference between his sales in the four days before the Grammys and the four days after was a 2544% increase.”
Because of the big leap in commercial performance, Jon sits at #1 on the R&B digital sales tally and #25 on the Billboard 200 (as seen below). The rise comes as his highest placement to date, and is also his first time in the Billboard 200’s top 40 hit.
Look to see who joins him.
Billboard 200 This Week
*click to enlarge*
Who’s this clown?