Angie Stone’s Catalog Up Nearly 1,300% in Streams, 10,700% in Sales Following R&B Great’s Death

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.

This week: A late R&B great sees massive gains for her stellar catalog, a rising singer-songwriter scores a potential breakthrough hit and a beloved TV actor gets a Netflix bump for his music.

Angie Stone’s Catalog Rises After Neo-Soul Icon’s Passing, Led by “No More Rain” 

On March 1, neo-soul icon and The Sequence founding member Angie Stone tragically died in a car accident near Montgomery, Ala. at the age of 63. With a three-time Grammy-nominated catalog spanning hip-hop, neo-soul and southern R&B, Angie Stone amassed three Billboard Hot 100 hits and landed seven titles on the Billboard 200 throughout her career. 

According to Luminate, Stone’s catalog earned just over 621,000 official on-demand U.S. streams in the week preceding her passing (Feb. 21-27). During the week of her passing (Feb. 28-March 6), that figure exploded a whopping 1,263% to over 8.4 million official streams. 1999’s “No More Rain (In This Cloud)” was one of her biggest streamers during the week of her death, collecting 2.1 million official on-demand U.S. streams — a 538% boost from the week prior. 

Meanwhile, 2002’s “Wish I Didn’t Miss You” — her most recent Hot 100 entry (No. 79) — rose 1,008% during the week of Feb. 28-March 6, collecting 1.44 million official on-demand U.S. streams.  And 2001’s classic “Brotha,” a song and music video honoring and uplifting Black men, experienced one of the biggest streaming boosts in Stone’s catalog following her passing. During the week of Feb. 21-27, the song earned just over 42,000 official on-demand U.S. steams. The following week, that figure leapt 2,026% to over 907,000 official streams. 

Notably, all three songs debuted in the top five of the R&B Digital Song Sales chart dated March 15: “No More Rain” bowed at No. 1, “Wish I Didn’t Miss You” followed at No. 2, and “Brotha” managed a No. 5 debut. All three songs mark her first entries on this particular ranking, which launched in November 2012. — KYLE DENIS 

Streaming Wraps Its Arms Around Sydney Rose’s New Sad Girl Hit

If Drake’s new musical obsession is weepy singer-songwriter ballads with hard-hitting beat-switches, Sydney Rose has just the viral hit for him. The Georgia singer-songwriter, who previously achieved some streaming success with the independently released “Turning Page” in 2020, released her new song “We Hug Now” to DSPs in February. The post-relationship song starts as a gentle, echoing ballad, à la Rose’s musical hero Phoebe Bridges – but it’s the climax, after a switch to a more cathartic mid-tempo singalong, that has taken off on TikTok, with countless users connecting with the lyrics: “You’re just thinkin’ it’s a small thing that happened/ The world ended when it happened to me.”

The world now may just be opening up for Rose, who has signed to CAA for touring and released “Hug” through Mercury Records. Her new signature song has exploded on streaming, racking up nearly 4.3 official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending on March 6 – a gain of 345% from three weeks earlier, according to Luminate. As the song continues to grow and Rose herself continues to spread the word herself through edits and mashups shared on her TikTok, it might not be long until the 6 God is once again asking for a “Hug.” – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Gabby Petito Netflix Docuseries Revives 16-Year-Old Matt Berry Song 

Last month (Feb. 17), Netflix released American Murder: Gabby Petito – a docuseries about the 2021 murder of travel vlogger Gabby Petito. At the close of the final episode, Matt Berry’s “Take My Hand” begins to play, which has ratcheted up the track’s streaming activity. 

During the week of Feb. 14-20, “Take My Hand” earned just over 36,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate. By the first full week since the release of the docuseries (Feb. 21-27), that figure jumped 866% to over 348,000 official streams. The following week (Feb. 28-March 6), that number rose a further 6%, reaching 579,000 official streams. Over the past two weeks, streaming activity for “Take My Hand” has risen over 1,505%. 

“Take My Hand” served as the opening theme for Berry’s award-winning Toast of London comedy series, exemplifying the crossover between his acting and music careers. In 2022, there was a small wave of TikToks expressing shock that the What We Do in the Shadows actor also made music. The official “Take My Hand” TikTok song currently boasts over 10,000 posts. 

Berry has yet to hit any Billboard chart, but that could soon change should “Take My Hand” maintain its streaming momentum. – KD

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