AWAY SHE GOES!

Here’s an idea: Let’s hold the Grammys every week. The Feb. 23 telecast helped spur Blue Note winner Norah Jones’ Come Away With Me to its best sales week yet, as the album returned to #1 with 661k in sales, a dramatic 392% rise over the week before.

HMV’s Jeff Davidson accepted his award for Most Scintillating Retail Quote of the Year and observed: "This year’s Grammy show was a boon for everyone, from artists to retailers to fans. The in-store traffic helped any number of artists, but the spike in Norah sales was virtually unprecedented. Now can I go back to watching I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!?"

Jones led a field of seven 100k-plus sales winners, as Shady/Aftermath/ Interscope hip-hop hottie 50 Cent hung tough, dropping just 20% with 401k units moved and landing at #2, with last week’s chart-topper, Jive’s R. Kelly, finishing third.

Grammy exposure was key for Open Wide/Monument/Columbia’s Dixie Chicks, who came in at #4 with an impressive 86% increase in sales, while WSM’s Grammy Nominees 2003 managed an 81% boost at #6. Awards-night performers like Lava/Atlantic’s Kid Rock (#7), Aware/Columbia’s John Mayer (#8, with a gigantic 134% rise) and Arista’s Avril Lavigne (#9) also reaped the rewards of TV exposure. The week’s biggest debuts were Roc-a-Fella/IDJ rapper Freeway, making a #5 bow on 118k sold, and the Bloodline//Def Jam/IDJ Cradle 2 the Grave soundtrack, which entered at #10.

Other Grammy gainers included Aftermath/Interscope hip-hop superstar Eminem (#12, +41%), Capitol’s Coldplay (#13, +59%), Fo’ Reel/Universal’s Nelly (#17, +18%), Mayer’s live album (#22, +19%) and Columbia’s Bruce Springsteen, whose The Rising re-entered the charts following his Grammy appearance and last Friday night’s CBS primetime concert special.

Added Davidson before offering to kiss Neil Portnow in public: "Every Grammy performer experienced a boost—even Soy Bomb, whose obscure ’99 album, The Freewheeling Stage Crasher, sold four copies this week"

Elektra’s Smallville: The Talon Mix soundtrack to the TV series bowed at #25, while In the Paint rapper B.G. entered the chart at #41.

Impressive movers included DreamWorks Oklahoma pop-punks The All-American Rejects, with a 24% rise (#32) and American/Lost Highway’s Johnny Cash, up 14% (#45).