Elbow win Olympic gold as sales soar after the closing ceremony

Elbow are the Olympic Games gold medal winners as figures just released reveal their album sales shot up by more than a THOUSAND per cent after their appearance at the big closing ceremony.

Retailer HMV has looked at sales on CD and download of the artists who either performed on the night or whose music was showcased during the event, then compared demand with the previous Monday.

Elbow’s Seldom Seen Kid was up a whopping 1,150 per cent while Build a Rocket Boys was up by 794 per cent in just 24 hours following the performance of One Day Like This and Open Arms.

The other big rise, in second spot, was for John Lennon’s Imagine album (1,100 per cent) and for the Spice Girls Greatest Hits (626 per cent).

Emeli Sandé, who performed on three occasions and also appeared in the opening ceremony two weeks earlier, received another sales boost, with her album Our Version of Events (476 per cent) enjoying the fifth-biggest rise.

HMV’s Gennaro Castaldo comments: “The closing ceremony was a celebration of British music, and with a huge broadcast audience in the UK and worldwide it’s no surprise that the featured artists are seeing a big lift in sales of their recordings.

“Elbow’s anthemic songs were almost tailor-made for the occasion, whilst it was also wonderful to be reminded of the power of John Lennon’s music.”

Here’s the sales increase medal table ...

1.   Elbow / Seldom Seen Kid  (1150 per cent)
2.   John Lennon / Imagine  (1100 per cent)
3.   Elbow / Build a Rocket Boys  (794 per cent)
4.   Spice Girls / Greatest Hits  (626 per cent)
5.   Emeli Sandé / Our Version of Events  (476 per cent)
6.   Kate Bush / The Whole Story  (416 per cent)
7.   George Michael / Faith  (320 per cent)
8.   Take That / Beautiful World  (300 per cent)
9.   The Who / Then and Now  (293 per cent)
10.  Queen / Platinum Collection  (286 per cent)
11. Taio Cruz / Departure  (252 per cent)
12. One Direction / Up All Night  (238 per cent)
13.  Muse / Hullabaloo  (228 per cent)
14.  Jessie J / Who You Are  (207 per cent)
15.  Ed Sheeran / +  (205 per cent)
16.  Pet Shop Boys / Ultimate  (202 per cent)
17.  David Bowie / Platinum: Best Of  (188 per cent)
18.  Oasis / What’s the Story (Morning Glory)  (186 per cent)
19.  Annie Lennox / Collection  (185 per cent)
20.  Tinie Tempah / Disc-Overy  (165 per cent)

(source HMV)