The real-life romance between Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova may have ended, but America’s love affair with the couple continues.

The duo, who won an Oscar for their song Falling Slowly from the indie film Once, have already featured in The Simpsons. Now their follow-up album is being sold in every branch of Starbucks across America. Being stocked at the tills of the coffee chain’s 11,000 stores has helped it enter the Billboard 200 album charts at number 15.

Strict Joy, the follow-up album from the folk pairing who call themselves The Swell Season, sold 28,385 copies in its first week of release in America. One-quarter of the sales were at Starbucks. The number one album on the chart was Michael Jackson’s This Is It, which sold more than 373,000 copies last week.

Dave Hansen of Anti Records, the label selling the album worldwide apart from Ireland and Australia, said: “Starbucks features about four records a month. As soon as we started planning the record, the first thing we did was go to Starbucks with it.”

As well as being on sale at the till, the album will be piped into stores for the next month. “A lot of people don’t go into record stores on a regular basis,” said Hansen. “We had so many things happening with The Swell Season on radio and television and in print that when people went to Starbucks to buy their morning coffee, they’d be reminded by seeing the record there and many people bought it.”

The soundtrack to Once has sold 708,000 copies in America since its release in 2007, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The music from the film received a massive boost in 2008 when the single Falling Slowly received two Grammy nominations and an Oscar win for Best Original Song. The duo spent most of last year playing theatres and festivals around America, building up their fanbase.

“People are fascinated with their music, the chemistry between Glen and Marketa and their story,” said Hansen. “They’re now touring, selling lots of tickets every night.”

Although they still make music together, Hansard and Irglova are no longer romantically involved.

The benefits of being stocked in Starbucks are confirmed by the fact that one-third of the sales of Ray Charles’ platinum-selling duets album, Genius Loves Company, were made in its branches. The Seattle-based company set up its own record label, Hear Music, in 2007. The first CD it released was a Paul McCartney album.

McCartney said at the time: “For me, the great thing is the commitment and the passion and the love of music, which as an artist is good to see. It’s a new world now and people are thinking of new ways to reach the people and for me that’s always been my aim.”

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