Dan + Shay, Ashley McBryde See Album Sales Spike After CMA Awards Wins

Fueled by Wednesday’s 53rd annual CMA Awards, country albums saw an 82% increase in digital sales, while country song sales were up 120% and sales of songs actually performed on the telecast jumped 1000%, according to Alpha Data, the data analytics company that powers the Rolling Stone charts.

Dan + Shay, who won their first CMA Award for Vocal Duo of the Year, saw their self-titled album receive a 732% bump in sales, while New Artist of the Year winner Ashley McBryde’s 2018 LP Girl Going Nowhere increased 555%. Maren Morris’ Girl, named Album of the Year during the ceremony, increased 380%, Old Dominion’s latest release was up 208%, and Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour jumped 189%.

It was a pop star, however, who saw the most dramatic increase in digital song sales. Pink’s “Love Me Anyway,” which she performed on the CMAs with background support from Chris Stapleton, jumped nearly 6000% and, according to Alpha Data, was the most downloaded track of those performed on Wednesday night.

Vocal Group of the Year Old Dominion was second in song sales behind Pink. The band’s performance of “One Man Band” increased its sales by 515%. Rounding out the top five songs experiencing notable sales bumps were Lady Antebellum’s “What If I Never Get Over You,” which the trio sang with Halsey; Dan + Shay’s “Speechless”; and Blake Shelton’s Single of the Year winner “God’s Country.”

The CMA Awards’ all-star opening helped give older songs a boost as well. Martina McBride’s 1994 song “Independence Day” increased 3,400%, Gretchen Wilson’s 2004 signature “Redneck Woman” jumped 2,380%, and Sara Evans’ “Born to Fly,” originally released in 2000, sky-rocketed 8,733% in sales.

As for the CMA Awards themselves, the show was up nearly 12% in total viewers from last year’s telecast, which marked an all-time low for the awards show.