Rush Music Streams Increase 776% Following Neil Peart’s Death
There no “silver lining” to death, other than, I suppose, the end of one’s suffering. Still, artists can take some comfort knowing that their work will, hopefully, outlive them. There is no better way to honor a deceased artist than to take some time appreciate the work they left behind.
And so, unsurprisingly, right now the world is honoring the work of legendary Rush drummer Neil Peart, who died last week — and they’re honoring it in droves. Billboard reports that Nielsen Music/MRC Data reports that since Peart’s death, streams of Rush songs have increased 776% in the United States:
“Jan. 10-13, on-demand audio and video streams of Rush’s catalog of songs increased to a combined 24.54 million — up 776.4% as compared to the previous four days (2.8 million on Jan. 6-9). The act’s most-streamed tunes during the Jan. 10-13 period was the 1981 hit ‘Tom Sawyer,’ with 2.82 million streams (up 305% as compared to the 698,000 streams it registered Jan. 6-9).
“In terms of sales, Rush’s catalog of songs grew by 2,304% to 19,000 (from 1,000), while the group’s album sales gained 1,820% to 6,000 (up from a negligible figure).”
The increase is so substantial that Rush’s greatest hits collection, The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits 1974 – 1987, is expected to re-enter the Billboard 200 chart next week.
Furthermore, the trade mag says that Rush currently “dominates Billboard‘s LyricFind U.S. and LyricFind Global charts,” which “rank the fastest-momentum-gaining tracks in lyric-search queries,” taking “23 of the 25 positions on the Global survey and 18 of the 25 spots on the U.S. ranking.”
I would have to imagine this means that not only are longtime Rush fans rocking out to the band’s music en masse right now, but that some younger people are now getting into Rush specifically because of all the publicity surrounding Peart’s passing. Hopefully, the drummer’s loved ones can take some comfort, however small, knowing that he continues to make a huge impact on the world.
