Alabama Shakes blowing up

SHAKES UP THE STAKES: What a difference a couple of TV appearances can make. In the wake of singer Brittany Howard's fiery verse in the Grammy tribute to Levon Helm and her band's killer perfs of "Hold On" and "Always Alright" on SNL (not to mention a spot on tastemaker show Austin City Limits), Alabama Shakes are the story of the moment. Their ATO album Boys & Girls currently occupies the #1 perch at iTunes (trailed by Mumford & Sons, Bruno Mars and The Lumineers) and on Amazon, jumping 130% (with 30k+ sales) and having its second biggest week since its April 2012 release, taking the album over the 430k mark; single "Hold On" is officially in the Top 20 and has enjoyed a 142% spike in sales this week, zooming past 350k in single sales; the single's video has moved into Large rotation at VH1; the band was the most searched term on the Internet on Saturday (2/16), according to some company called Google; and they became a Top 10 Twitter "trending topic" worldwide. What's next? Hold on. (2/20p)