After a tremendously slow January and a sharp post-Christmas drop, the album chart is looking slightly -- only slightly -- better. Last week, album sales were up 13% over the previous week and there were nine albums over the 100,000 mark. Call it The Grammy Effect. But...album sales were 10% lower than the same week a year ago. Given albums are down 15% for the year, that's actually quite an improvement.

Norah Jones' Not Too Late (Blue Note) continued to be a welcome salve to EMI's income statement. Expectations were high -- maybe too high -- but Not Too Late is faring well. After three weeks it has sold 852,000. Last week's decline was only 12%. The album should have strong enough legs to stay at or near the top of the chart for a number of weeks. The rise of Corrine Bailey Rae should boost EMI's spirits. Thanks to the Grammy Awards, her self-titled Capitol debut rose 132% to #4 on the chart.

The Grammys were even better to The Dixie Chicks, who shot up 714% and landed at #8.

The highest debut of the week was Gerald Levert's In My Songs (Atlantic) which sold 165,00 (2% digital). Lucinda Williams' West (Lost Highway) debuted at #14 with sales of 57,000 (15% digital).

Here's an oddity: The "Music & Lyrics" soundtrack debuted at #111 with sales of about 9,700. The CD/digital split is the inverse of a typical figure. Digital sales accounted for 84% of the total.

Second-week fades: Bloc Party fell 66%, Fall Out Boy sank 54%, Ashley Tisdale dropped 52%, Barenaked Ladies fell 42% and Patty Griffin faded 39%.

Boosey & Hawkes is looking for a Royalty Tracker.