On the Charts: Taylor Swift Reigns As Plant & Krauss Ride Big Grammy Sales Wave

The Big News: As expected, the Grammys boosted sales for award winners, most significantly Album of the Year recipients Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' Raising Sand, which sold 715 percent more than its haul the week prior to leap from 69 to Number Two. Keeping Plant & Krauss off the top of the charts is current Rolling Stone cover girl Taylor Swift, whose Fearless sold 91,000 more copies to return to the one spot after letting Springsteen and the Fray borrow it for two weeks. The Fray's self-titled album dropped from One to Four, and a pair of albums debuted in the Top Five: India.Arie's Testimony: Vol.2, Love & Politics and Lily Allen's It's Not Me It's You at Three and Five respectively.

Debuts: Other newbies on the chart include Bobby Valentino's Rebirth at Seven thanks to 56,000 copies sold in its debut week. The Lonely Island of SNL fame scored the 13 slot with Incredibad, R&B producer Ryan Leslie grabbed 35 with his debut album and somehow NCIS: The Official TV Soundtrack was deemed purchase-worthy to 9,400 viewers, helping it win 82nd place.

Last Week's Heroes: Other recipients of the Grammy-induced sales jump were Coldplay's triple-Grammy-winning Viva la Vida, which jumped from 31 to eight on a 271 percent increase and 62,000 copies sold. Other albums that had a triple-digit percentage increase over last week: Adele's 19 (27 to 10), Jennifer Hudson's self-titled album (47 to 30) and Radiohead's In Rainbows (129 to 70). With no big releases due out this week or next, it looks like Swift will remain Number One until U2's No Line on the Horizon comes out March 3rd.

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Song Stories

“Weird”

Hanson | 1997

Accomplished tunesmith Desmond Child co-wrote "Weird" with the three brothers that make up Hanson. Credited for dozens of cuts, including songs by Kiss, Cher, Bon Jovi and Aerosmith, Child told Rolling Stone that "Weird" holds a special place in his heart, "because it's about being different--and I grew up poor, I grew up being Latin, I grew up being gay, and now I'm fat!" The song was included on Hanson's 1997 album Middle of Nowhere, which sold more than ten million units.

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