Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 08/29/2011 at 3:35 PM News

The Popdust Files: adele, beyonce, charts, chris brown, foster the people, iTunes, kreayshawn, lil wayne, tyler the creator, young the giant

One of the fun things about award shows like the VMAs for pop nerds like ourselves is seeing which singles surge on the charts as a result of positive buzz from the awards—either due to a solid performance or a trophy win or two. It’s a super-informal way to gauge which performers made the best (or at least the biggest) impression on the viewing public, and in the case of less-established artists, it can even be the first sign of them taking the next step to stardom, as Florence and the Machine and Kings of Leon have in years past after their respective performances on MTV award shows.

So, judging from the hourly updated iTunes charts, who are the beneficiaries of the post-VMAs sales bump going to be this year? Well Tyler, the Creator’s Best New Artist-winning “Yonkers” might be on its way to its first-ever Hot 100 appearance, currently sitting at #55 on the charts, as might Chris Brown’s aerially performed “Beautiful People,” at #50. Two of the program’s less-established stars, pre-show co-host Kreayshawn and main-event performer Young the Giant, are into the top 30 for the first time ever, with “Gucci Gucci” (#30) and “My Body” (#28) respectively. But the two biggest VMA-related surges are from well-established artists—Beyoncé and Adele, who had arguably the two best performances of the night, and now see the songs they performed crash into the iTunes Top Ten, with B’s “Love on Top” landing at #9, and Adele’s “Someone Like You” going all the way to #2. (Good for both of ‘em—hopefully this’ll put to bed worries about 4 not producing a single smash hit, or about 21 being a one-hit wonder of an album.)

Interestingly, though, the two biggest winners on the iTunes charts this week aren’t really due to the VMAs at all. There’s Lil Wayne, who released his Carter IV album for download last night after the awards concluded, and subsequently has 16 of his songs in the top 100 this week, plus a couple guest appearances, natch. And there’s Foster the People, the little band that could, who depsite going 0-2 at the VMAs last night, finally concluded their long trek up the iTunes Charts, reaching pole position this week with “Pumped Up Kicks”. Who says rock is dead, anyway?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qny_TKtKOww