XXXTentacion Sets A New Global Spotify Record With “SAD!” Following His Death
His album ‘? (Question Mark)’ is projected to return to the Top 10 of the Billboard 200.
XXXTentacion passed away from a gunshot wound on Monday, June 18, and fans flocked to streaming services to revisit the late rapper’s catalog. His biggest hit “SAD!” was the most popular choice for listeners on the day after his death. According to Chart Data, the song set a new global Spotify single-day record with 10,415,088 streams on June 19.
Further reflecting the renewed interest in his music, XXXTentacion also held the first seven spots on Spotify’s global daily chart for June 19:
In addition, he owned nine of the Top 10 slots on the US daily chart:
Genius pageviews for “SAD!” have also skyrocketed. After receiving 6,480 pageviews on Sunday June 17, the song’s pageviews jumped to 54,138 on the day of XXXTentacion’s death. On June 19, “SAD!” earned 131,677 pageviews and subsequently moved up to No. 1 on the Genius Top Songs chart. XXXTentacion currently holds seven of the Top 10 spots.
XXXTentacion’s streaming numbers also received a major boost from Spotify’s This Is XXXTentacion playlist to commemorate the rapper’s death. “SAD!” is featured as the first song on the playlist, which received a top billing on the streaming service Monday night.
Spotify has a complicated history with XXXTentacion. On May 10, his music was removed from the company’s editorially curated and algorithmic playlists under its hate content and hateful conduct policy. Just three weeks later, Spotify reversed course and removed the hateful conduct provision from the policy.
When Spotify implemented the hateful conduct policy, the company stated, “When an artist or creator does something that is especially harmful or hateful, it may affect the ways we work with or support that artist or creator.” At the time of XXXTentacion’s death, he was awaiting trial on multiple felony charges, including battery and aggravated assault of a pregnant victim, battery by strangulation, and false imprisonment.
“SAD!” was released in early March as the lead single from XXXTentacion’s No. 1 sophomore album ? (Question Mark). It peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending March 22 and currently sits at No. 52. With ? (Question Mark) currently projected to make a return to the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 next week, it seems likely that “SAD!” will make a huge jump on the Hot 100 as well.
Genius reached out to a Spotify rep to confirm the record, but they did not immediately respond.
Read all the lyrics to XXXTentacion’s “SAD!” on Genius now.
