LOS ANGELES, Jan 29 — In the US, albums by pioneering blues legend Etta James, who died last Friday at the age of 73, have seen a 378 percent increase in sales in the US over the past week. Additionally, her catalog of songs has sold 118,000 downloads this week, with more than half of those sales of her signature track "At Last."

According to Billboard this week, James also saw her highest-charting album ever as "The Best of Etta James - 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection" jumped from number 162 to number 46 in the Billboard 200 chart. 

Until this week she had never gone higher than number 68 when her debut album At Last! charted that position in 1961, noted Billboard.

James also entered the Billboard 200 chart this week at number 59 with her 1997 hits collection "Her Best", while "At Last!" (which sold 63,000 digital downloads this week according to Nielsen SoundScan) rose to number 96 in the chart. 

The famed singer also appears in the Hot 100 chart in the form of song samples — her 1962 track "Something's Got a Hold on Me" is mixed into both Avicii's "Levels" (number 68 in the chart) and Flo Rida's "Good Feeling" (at number three).

Winner of 17 Blues Music Awards, James was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

In 1994, nearly four decades after her debut hit, she won her first Grammy, for "Mystery Lady", a jazz album of Billie Holiday songs. She won a Grammy for best contemporary blues album as well, and in 2003 earned the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. — AFP-Relaxnews