Juice WRLD Becomes the Most-Streamed Artist in the U.S. Following His Death
The young rapper was streamed more than 38.2 million times on Sunday — nearly three times as much as any other artist — and was also the leader in digital song sales
Photo: Steve Jennings/FilmMagic
In the aftermath of Juice WRLD’s sudden death at 21, fans of the Chicago rapper streamed his genre-blending hip-hop by the millions, launching him to Number One in both streams and song sales on Sunday.
Juice WRLD’s on-demand audio streams spiked 487 percent on Sunday to over 38.2 million in the U.S., nearly 24 million more than any other artist. Songs by Juice WRLD accounted for four of the top 10 songs across platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
“Lucid Dreams,” the wounded, Sting-sampling track that hurtled him into stardom, was the most-streamed song of the day, with nearly 4.4 million on-demand audio streams, according to data from BuzzAngle Music. “Legends,” which features the eerily prophetic lyrics “What’s the 27 Club? / We ain’t making it past 21,” was fourth with 3.1 million. “Robbery” and “All Girls Are the Same” followed at seventh and ninth, respectively.
“Lucid Dreams” was also the Number One song in digital sales that day, with over 3,000 digital downloads. “Legends” followed at Number Six, with over 1,700. Overall, Juice WRLD was the Number One artist by digital song sales on Sunday with over 9,600 — an increase of over 2,700 percent from the day before.
Juice WRLD also had the top two albums of the day by album project units, which combines digital and physical album sales, digital song sales, and audio streams. His 2018 debut album, Goodbye & Good Riddance, led with just under 13,000 units, and 2019’s Death Race For Love — which became his first Number One album — followed with around 10,300 units.
The rapper born Jarad Higgins died early Sunday morning after suffering a seizure shortly after his private plane landed at Chicago’s Midway Airport. Many questions surrounding the death remain unanswered, with the Cook’s County Medical Examiner’s Office announcing on Tuesday that “[additional] studies are required to establish the cause and manner of death.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, authorities were searching for contraband when Higgins began convulsing. Agents administered Narcan and called an ambulance. He was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center. Authorities reportedly found 41 bags of marijuana, six bottles of prescription codeine cough syrup, along with firearms.
In a statement to Rolling Stone on Sunday, Interscope Records said, “Juice made a profound impact on the world in such a short period of time. He was a gentle soul, whose creativity knew no bounds, an exceptional human being and artist who loved and cared for his fans above everything else. To lose someone so kind and so close to our hearts is devastating. Our thoughts are with Juice’s family and friends, everyone at his label Grade A, and his millions of fans around the world.”
