Pink Floyd album sales soar but no money for Gilmour

The full line-up of Dave Gilmour, Nick Mason, Richard Wright and Roger Waters played together in Hyde Park on Saturday for the first time since splitting acrimoniously in 1981.

A snap survey by the music retailer HMV showed that sales of the Pink Floyd "Best of" album Echoes rose by 1,343 per cent on Sunday compared to the previous Sunday. Two of the band's albums, Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, were among the top 10 best-selling albums on the Amazon website yesterday.

Other classic acts at the concert, including The Who and Sting, also saw their album sales rise by several hundred per cent.

An HMV spokesman, Gennaro Castaldo, pointed out that the knock-on effect of Live8 on album sales was less obvious among bands that were already selling well. Sales of Coldplay's X & Y, which was the record chain's best-selling album, rose by only 3 per cent

Mr Castaldo said: "This snapshot still shows that, like its predecessor 20 years ago, the Live8 concert is having a marked effect on sales of featured-artist recordings. Iconic acts like Pink Floyd and The Who have done particularly well. It shows that when acts like these perform, it reminds everybody how fantastic they are." He added: "It's likely this impact will become more pronounced throughout the week, as more fans and record buyers respond to the combined effect of the weekend's televised event, the G8 summit and the ensuing publicity."

The Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour said he would not profit from the concert. "Though the main objective has been to raise consciousness and put pressure on the G8 leaders, I will not profit from the concert.

"If on Thursday the G8 leaders tick the right three boxes at Gleneagles then the main objective will have been fulfilled.

"If other artists feel like donating their extra royalties to charity, perhaps then the record companies could be persuaded to make a similar gesture and that would be a bonus. This is money that should be used to save lives."

Sales of The Libertines' Up The Bracket album fell - perhaps because of the performance at Live8 of their former frontman, Pete Doherty.

* Live8 was watched by a peak of 9.6 million viewers on BBC1, the corporation said yesterday.

Riding the gravy train

1 Pink Floyd - Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd +1,343 per cent

2 The Who - Then and Now +863 per cent

3 Annie Lennox - Eurythmics Greatest Hits +500 per cent

4 Dido - Life For Rent +412 per cent

5 Razorlight - Up All Night +335 per cent

6 Robbie Williams - Greatest Hits +320 per cent

7 Joss Stone - Mind, Body and Soul +309 per cent

8 Sting - The Very Best of Sting & The Police +300 per cent

9 Travis - Singles +268 per cent

10 Madonna - Immaculate Collection +200 per cent

11 Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters +174 per cent

12 Mariah Carey - Greatest Hits +170 per cent

13 Snoop Dogg - Rhythm & Gangsta +166 per cent

14 The Killers - Hot Fuss +131 per cent

15 U2 - Best of: 1990-2000 +116 per cent

16 Elton John - Greatest Hits: 1970-2002 +111 per cent

17 Keane - Hopes and Fears +101 per cent

18 The Beatles - 1 +71 per cent

19 Snow Patrol - Final Straw +69 per cent

20 REM - Reveal +50 per cent

21 Stereophonics - Language Sex Violence Other? +36 per cent

22 Coldplay - X & Y +3 per cent

23 The Libertines - Up The Bracket -35 per cent

Sales increase at HMV between Sunday 26 June and Sunday 3 July