Virginia Sherwood/NBCThe figure-skating competitions at this year’s Winter Olympics haven’t just been fun to watch: They’ve been fun to listen to. This year, the athletes are allowed to skate to songs with lyrics, and that’s translated into some significant sales increases on the Billboard charts.
For example, Adele‘s first single, “Hometown Glory,” was used by Canadian skaters Eric Radford and Meghan Duhamel on February 9. Billboard reports that it resulted in a boost of more than 1200% in downloads, and 30% in streams for the 2007 song.
Coldplay‘s catalogue was very popular among skaters this year. U.S. skater Adam Rippon used the band’s 2014 song “O” in his free skate program, which resulted in a more than 10,000% increase in downloads and 280% increase in streams.
Meanwhile, U.S. skaters Alex and Maia Shibutani used Coldplay’s “Paradise” and “Fix You” as part of their routine: the former got a 411% boost, while the latter saw a 61% gain.
Another song that got a big boost, according to Billboard, is Ed Sheeran‘s “Make It Rain,” which France’s Morgan Cipres and Vanessa James skated to. It received a 128% increase in downloads.
This Friday marks the final day of figure skating, so more sales increases are still possible.
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