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Who Charted? Mumford’s Towering ‘Babel’ Gets Big Grammys Boost

mumford and sons babel grammys billboard chart

First! SPIN hopes you’re happy, America. You wanted “prissy shambling” and “polite hoedowns” all wrapped up in a “bland but biblically titled” package and boy, did you ever get it. Yes, Mumford and Sons’ Babel is back at No. 1 having followed up their Grammy win for album of the year with a 185,000 additional albums sold. Of course, it’s not entirely your fault. The fix must have been in, because the band not only offered its second record as a Valentine’s Day discount via iTunes (o, Cupid, still thy bow), but prepped two different deluxe versions: one a Target exclusive featuring three live tracks, and the other the widely available Gentlemen of the Road edition featuring 12 concert songs. “Fucking awesome.”

2 to 10: Music’s Biggest Blunderbust has turned the Billboard Top 10 into Rerunsville, with the 2013 Grammy Nominees compilation coming in at No. 2 (88K), Bruno Mars’ Unorthodox Jukebox landing at No. 3 (86K), Taylor Swift’s Red clocking in at No. 4 (72K), the Lumineers’ self-titled set rising to No. 6 (67K), fun.’s Some Nights nabbing No. 7 (66K), and Maroon 5’s Overexposed picking up No. 10 (48K). Of those, the Lumineers were the only ones who didn’t see a triple-digit percentage gain. The non-Grammy-assisted remainder mostly does the opposite: Josh Groban’s All That Echoes scores No. 5 (72K), Now 45 does No. 8 (63K), and Andrea Bocelli’s Passione fills the No. 9 slot (48K).

10 for Ten: As reported, Pearl Jam’s 1991 landmark debut Ten has achieved diamond sales status, becoming the 22nd album to sell 10 million copies since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data that very same year. Adele’s 21 was the last to notch that same victory, so savvy music-makers take note: naming your album after a number is a good look. Apologies to 311, who went a little too hard on the 420 and accidentally flipped the formula.

Movin’ On Up: Baauer’s fiercely viral “Harlem Shake” experienced a 1,359 percent bump in digital song sales, improving on 18K sold the previous week with a whopping 262K. So while we’ve got our issues with the “cracker-trap” phenomenon, it saved our asses from having to write about Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ abominable “Thrift Shop.”  So thank you, Diplo.