'Fifty Shades of Grey' spurs sales of Renaissance Tallis work As the "Fifty Shades of Grey" series continues to be the trashy summer read of the decade (20 millions copies sold in the U.S. and counting), the repercussions are rippling into other arenas of pop culture. Benefiting from what could be called "The Grey Effect," the Renaissance era "Spem in alium," a 40-part motet peformed by the Tallis Scholars, experienced a spike in sales that is being attributed to its use in one of the series' many provocative scenes, taking it to the top of the classical singles chart in the U.K. and as high as No. 6 on the classical album charts (the album currently sits at No. Although Tallis probably never could've imagined some 400 years ago that his devotional choral piece one day would be written into the soundtrack for a woman blindfolded and handcuffed to a bed, odds are he would appreciate the new listeners. Wrote one skeptical but grateful commenter on YouTube, "I'm glad you Christian Grey people are discovering something as beautiful as this even if it is through ... questionable ... literature." Other classical pieces -- including works by Pachelbel, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Alexandre Tharaud's "Chopin Preludes" -- also are included in the book, according to a helpful soundtrack posted on author E.L. James' website, but apparently have not yet enjoyed a similar sales bump. Other songs including Kings of Leon's "Sex on Fire" and "I'm on Fire" by Bruce Springsteen -- is there a theme developing here? -- also seem no more or less popular than usual. As expected, plans for a movie adaptation are already in the works, with the producers of "The Social Network" already attached. There's no telling if "Fifty Shades of Grey" will do for Tallis what Bo Derek's turn in "10" did for Ravel's "Bolero," but time will tell. The origins of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' go missing'