Chris Cornell - As Vendas Dão Um Salto De 550% Após A Sua Morte

Chris Cornell's Sales And Streams Jump More Than 550 Percent Following His Death

First of all thanks to Hugh McIntyre for this article.

Whenever a beloved musician passes away, sales and streams of their most popular works shoot through the roof. Devotees want to listen to their favorite tune or full-length again in an attempt to find some solace, while casual fans or those who might not have known the artist's work in life go out of their way to finally discover what they had been crafting for years, which has become much easier now that streaming platforms have taken over.

Earlier this month, legendary rock musician Chris Cornell passed away from what appears to be a suicide, and in the days and weeks since, fans everywhere are listening to the art he created as a solo artist and as a member of Soundgarden and Audiosoave, both of which were highly successful in their time.

According to Nielsen Music (reported by Billboard), the sales and streams of Cornell’s career discography grew by just over 550% from the week prior to his death. On platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora, the songs he recorded with his two groups and as a solo act were streamed 32.5 million times during the week in which he passed away. The charting week prior to that, his tracks were played five million times, which is still a healthy amount for somebody not currently promoting any new material, and it shows that while the jump in streams may have been massive after he died, it’s not as if the world had forgotten the genius of Chris Cornell.

That same week, 38,000 Chris Cornell albums (again, that sum includes both Soundgarden and Audioslave records as well) were sold, which represented a 1,700% gain in purchases. The week before his untimely death, only 2,000 records were sold.

When it comes to digital track purchases, fans really stepped it up, and in the tracking week ending May 18, Cornell’s music sold 144,000 copies. That is a 2,222% rise from the week before, when only 6,000 songs were purchased.

When the Billboard 200 is refreshed shortly, at least a few albums recorded by Cornell will likely reappear on the all-encompassing ranking, and he and his music are sure to posthumously own a number of spots on rock-specific charts for weeks to come.