Mercury rising: nominees report massive sales boost

by Rob Webb [Edit this content] ▾ 10 comments 17:24 September 17th, 2008

Whether you agreed with the decision to award Elbow the 'Prize or not (DiS is on the fence, but, well, isn't it supposed to reward innovation?), one thing is clear: Mercury nominations = more moolah.

On average, say Reuters, the nominees have seen a 500% increase in sales since last week's ceremony - the biggest hike since the Mercury began 17 years ago - with Burial's Untrue racking up a mammoth gain of 1004%. All of which translates to chart success: the winning LP, Elbow's The Seldom Seen Kid, climbed 54 places to #7 in the Official UK Album Chart (a 688% sales increase).

Gennaro Castaldo of HMV, de facto talking head in all things sales related, had this to say:

"A lot of music fans will be aware of [Elbow] and their music, but may not have bought one of their albums before. The band look set to be one of the biggest ever beneficiaries of winning a Nationwide Mercury Prize when measured in commercial terms."

Video: Elbow win the Mercury Prize

Peter Gabriel to release 'song swap' album with songs of Arcade Fire, Magnetic Fields + more 29 Oct 13:52
Guy Garvey's track-by-track guide to Asleep in the Back (Deluxe Edition) 26 Oct 11:04
Bestival 2009: The DiS review 28 Sep 10:38
New 'Later...Live' CD compilation on the way featuring Lily Allen, Bon Iver, MGMT + more 25 Sep 17:29
Massive Attack reveal EP details, guest stars a-plenty 26 Aug 10:49
T In The Park: The (slightly delayed) DiS review 30 Jul 11:28
In The City demo deadline fast approaching 29 Jul 12:09
Manchester International Festival: the DiS review 21 Jul 16:15

Elbow

View profile

From the archive

You should:

Tweet This or

Share on Facebook

Comments

- Post a new comment on this article

good for them :)

elbow deserve it.

SHANDYHOLMES | 17 Sep '08, 17:41 | X | Reply

It should be pointed out

that, for example, a 1004% increase in sales doesn't mean a lot if the album was only selling 2 copies a week to start with...

Elfrim @SHANDYHOLMES | 17 Sep '08, 18:43 | X | Reply

This is really good for the band

but i cant help but think the british public are lemmings and only buying the album because it won this award.

But its a good thing.

grover_elliot @Elfrim | 17 Sep '08, 19:12 | X | Reply

I was thinking that

I mean Buril got a 1004% increase in sales which is a bigger % than Elbow yet Elbow managed to get in the top 10 and Burial I persume didn't and sold around 11 copies...

Good on both of them I'm sure they will find alot of new fans and places in peoples hearts.

jimitheexploder @Elfrim | 17 Sep '08, 19:39 | X | Reply