Nielsen Music tracked the seven songs performed during Sunday night’s Oscar ceremony, and they received a collective 200+% sales boost. Here is the breakdown:
Total Performed Songs
+206% Sunday vs. Saturday
+20K units Sunday vs. Saturday
Highlights (all highlights compare Sunday sales to Saturday sales)
- Justin Timberlake kicked off the show with “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” from the Trolls soundtrack. The song was up 188% (+7.6K units) on Sunday vs. Saturday sales.
- Timberlake also performed his version of Bill Withers “Lovely Day”, which pushed the original Bill Withers composition up 713% (+1K units).
- Auli’i Cravalho and Lin Manuel Miranda performed “How Far I’ll Go” from the Moana Soundtrack. Sales of the song increased by 52% (+2K units).
- Sting performed “The Empty Chair” from the movie Jim: The James Foley Story. Sales of the song increased by nearly 5,400% (+1.5K units)
- John Legend performed “City of Stars” (Winner, Best Original Song) and “Audition” from La La Land. Sales of “City of Stars” increased by 260% (+3.4K units) and “Audition” was up 401% (+1.8K units).
- Finally, Sara Bareilles performed “Both Sides Now” as the musical tribute to those who have passed. Sales of the song lifted by 3,400% (+3K units).
Nominated Soundtracks
Total Nominated Soundtracks
+41% Sunday vs. Saturday
+2.5K units Sunday vs. Saturday
- La La Land (Winner, Best Original Score) was up 175% on Sunday (+2K units)
- Trolls was up 2% on Sunday (+500 units)
- Moana was up 20% on Sunday (+200 units)
- Other soundtracks, from Moonlight (+226%), Passengers (+375%), Jackie (+154%) and Lion (+75%) all had much lower sales levels going into the Oscars, but all showed big percent increases. Of these, only Moonlight had over 100 sales on Sunday, but they are all sure to continue to sell well throughout the week.