Billboard was 100 percent correct with its introduction to its article on the rise in downloads following the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday: It's great to win a trophy but the real winners were those who got to perform, regardless of hardware.
We already discussed earlier this week how the Digital Downloads chart was full of performers who saw huge sales boosts for their singles immediately following the VMAs. One performer had a special advantage however: Beyoncé got a 16 minute set and she managed to touch on every track from her 2013 self-titled album during the set. Accordingly, downloaders didn't aim for any particular track when they hit iTunes: They bought the whole album. Beyoncé jumped up to no. 7 on the iTunes album charts. Still, a few tracks did get special attention: "XO" saw a 1,648 percent increase in downloads and "Flawless" was up 1,237 percent.
All of the ladies involved with "Bang Bang" got boosts to their discographies of course. Nicki Minaj was at the fore, as her single "Anaconda" (which, admittedly, she also performed at the show) jumped from no. 24 to 6 on the Billboard Digital Downloads charts, a rise of 132 percent. The rest of her singles, which weren't exactly hot, got an overall boost of 215 percent. Jessie J got an overall boost of 114 percent. "Bang Bang" itself rose by 21 percent.
Maroon 5, perhaps surprisingly, played its first VMA set and now wishes it had done so sooner. The group's new album V, which dropped on Friday, got a 166 percent boost in preorders following its appearance.
