D'Angelo's Music Streams Skyrocket 796% Following His Passing

The late D’Angelo’s death has led to fans revisiting the soul innovator’s catalog in droves. Billboard reports that D’Angelo’s music streams are up by 796% in the wake of his passing. 

According to Luminate, D’Angelo’s catalog registered 16.1 million official on-demand streams in the United States for the tracking week of Oct. 10 - 16. 2000’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” fared the best, with 2.5 million streams in the period, followed by 1995 tracks “Lady” (2.2 million) and “Brown Sugar” (1.9 million). 

D’Angelo released three studio albums in his 30-plus-year career. 1995’s Brown Sugar, 2000’s Voodoo, and 2014’s Black Messiah. His influence is widespread and undeniable; his emergence in the mid-1990s is credited with kickstarting the neosoul movement and paving the way for artists such as Erykah Badu, Maxwell and Jill Scott.

“I told you a long time ago,” Scott tweeted to her fans upon the news of D’Angelo’s death from pancreatic cancer. “You ain’t gon’ understand everything and everything ain’t meant 4 U ,nor I, to understand. I never met D’Angelo but I love him, respect him, admire his gift. This loss HURTS!! Love to my family that are family to him. I’m so sorry. R.I.P. GENIUS.” 

Famed hip-hop writer Cheo Hodari Coker also gave context for the singer-songwriter’s musical impact.

“Every generation has a genius that comes from their generation,” he tweeted.” For my grandparents, that was Miles Davis. For my parents, it was Sly Stone. For my older cousins, it was Prince. D'Angelo was ours. This one hurts…”

In addition to the streaming jump, D’Angelo’s song catalog sold 9,000 digital track downloads last week. “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” was the top seller, at 2,000 copies.