Sinead O’Connor’s Streams Surged by 2,885% Following Her Death
Written by djfrosty on August 4, 2023
Streams and sales of Sinead O’Connor’s catalog vaulted following the Irish singer’s death on July 26, with many of her songs returning to the Billboard charts dated Aug. 5.
O’Connor’s catalog earned 7.9 million official on-demand U.S. streams in the July 21-27 tracking week, up 774% from 901,000 July 14-20, according to Luminate.
As for July 26-27 vs. July 24-25, O’Connor’s official on-demand U.S. song streams grew from 243,000 to 7.3 million, up 2,885%.
Additionally, downloads of her songs totaled 17,000 July 21-27, a 5,348% surge from a negligible amount July 14-20.
In terms of albums, O’Connor’s music earned 11,000 equivalent album units July 21-27, up 1,346% from 1,000 the week before. Of those 11,000 units, 4,000 were via album sales.
With consumption gains come multiple appearances on the Billboard charts for O’Connor, paced by her cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which returns to the Rock Digital Song Sales and Alternative Digital Song Sales surveys at No. 1 with 10,000 downloads sold.
The song also accrued 3.2 million streams, which, combined with its sales, drive it onto the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs tally at No. 10 (where older songs are eligible to appear if in the top half and with a meaningful reason for their resurgences).
It’s the song’s second time on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (which began in 2009); it ranked at No. 16 on the May 14, 2016, chart with streaming and sales gains following Prince’s death.
“Nothing Compares 2 U” was O’Connor’s lone Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, reigning for four weeks in 1990.
O’Connor’s songs “Mandinka” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes” also reach Alternative Digital Song Sales, at Nos. 16 and 17, respectively, and Rock Digital Song Sales (Nos. 24 and 25), with approximately 1,000 downloads sold apiece. “The Emperor’s New Clothes” was O’Connor’s lone other entry on the Hot 100, as the follow-up to “Nothing Compares 2 U” reached No. 60 in 1990.
Further placements for O’Connor’s music are possible on the Aug. 12-dated Billboard charts following a full week of sales, streaming and airplay tracking (July 28-Aug. 3).
O’Connor died in London at age 56. A cause of death has not been announced.