Van Halen Had 20 of the Top 25 Tracks Last Week

It should come as no shock that sales and streams of Van Halen’s music spiked tremendously following Eddie Van Halen’s death last week. But just how much did they rise? Metal journalist and manager Ryan J. Downey’s Stream N’ Destroy newsletter is here to tell us that exactly.

After sales of Van Halen music spiked over 6,000% in the 24 hours after Eddie died, we now have a much more complete sales picture for the full week as well as some insights into streaming and where all of that placed Van Halen on various charts.

In terms of total activity — a metric which includes both pure album sales, individual track download equivalents and streaming track equivalents — the band’s best-selling album was their self-titled 1978 debut, which moved 17,500 copies in the week ending October 9 (that includes only three-and-a-half days after Eddie died). 1984 was a close second with 15,000 copies sold, followed by two best-of collections: Best Of Van Halen Vol. 1, released in 1996 (12,500 copies) and The Best of Both Worlds, released in 2004 (7,000 copies).

Shifting focus to individual tracks, Billboard’s Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart saw Van Halen claim 20 of the top 25 slots. Two of the others were occupied by AC/DC — the band’s brand new track and an old classic — one was by Bon Jovi, suggesting fans likely may have confused the two ’80s bands monikered after their double-named founders, another was Disturbed’s cover of Simon & Garfunekl’s “The Sound of Silence,” a perennial seller, and the fifth was Spiritbox (congrats to Spiritbox!).

Hard Rock Digital Song Sales:

1. Van Halen “Jump”
2. Van Halen “Panama”
3. Van Halen “Eruption”
4. Van Halen “Runnin’ with the Devil”
5. Van Halen “You Really Got Me”
6. Van Halen “Why Can’t This be Love”
7. Van Halen “Dance the Night Away”
8. AC/DC “Shot in the Dark”
9. Van Halen “Hot for Teacher”
10. Van Halen “Right Now”
11. Van Halen “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love”
12. Van Halen “Jamie’s Cryin’”
13. Van Halen “Dreams”
14. Van Halen “Love Walks In”
15. Van Halen “When It’s Love”
16. Van Halen “I’ll Wait”
17. AC/DC “Thunderstruck”
18. Van Halen “Beautiful Girls”
19. Spiritbox “Holy Roller”
20. Van Halen “Unchained”
21. Van Halen “And the Cradle Will Rock…”
22. Bon Jovi “Livin’ On a Prayer”
23. Van Halen “(Oh) Pretty Woman”
24. Disturbed “The Sound of Silence”
25. Van Halen “Ice Cream Man”

Looking at Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart, which factors in streaming and radio play in addition to sales for a broader view of popularity, Van Halen claimed the top three spots and six of the top ten (six of the top seven, really) for an impressive showing.

Hot Hard Rock Songs:

1. Van Halen “Jump”
2. Van Halen “Panama”
3. Van Halen “Runnin’ with the Devil”
4. Linkin Park “In the End”
5. Van Halen “You Really Got Me”
6. Van Halen “Eruption”
7. Van Halen “Hot for Teacher”
8. AC/DC “Shot in the Dark”
9. Five Finger Death Punch “A Little Bit Off”
10. The Hu “Wolf Totem” ft. Jacoby Shaddix
11. Seether “Dangerous”
12. Corey Taylor “Black Eyes Blue”
13. Deftones “Ohms”
14. I Prevail “Every Time You Leave” ft. Delaney Jane
15. Bring Me The Horizon “Parasite Eve”
16. Badflower “30”
17. Metallica/SFSO “All Within My Hands”
18. The Pretty Reckless “Death by Rock and Roll”
19. Three Days Grace “Somebody That I Used to Know”
20. Shinedown “Atlas Falls”
21. Bring Me The Horizon with YUNGBLUD “Obey”
22. Spiritbox “Holy Roller”
23. Marilyn Manson “We Are Chaos”
24. Deftones “Genesis”
25. Starset “Trials”

With last week’s numbers only including three full days after Eddie’s death, we expect to see the band’s music stay on the charts next week, too, and likely beyond.

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