D’Angelo Streams Skyrocket 796% After His Death, 3 Songs Reach R&B Charts

The late D’Angelo’s catalog rallied nearly nine-fold in streams as fans and fellow musicians revisited the visionary neo-soul singer, songwriter and producer’s work in the days after he died of cancer on Oct. 14 at age 51.

D’Angelo’s song catalog registered 16.1 million official on-demand streams in the United States for the tracking week of Oct. 10-16, according to Luminate, surging 796% from the previous week’s total of 1.8 million. 2000’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” was the strongest performer, with 2.5 million clicks in the period, with 1995 cuts “Lady” (2.2 million) and “Brown Sugar” (1.9 million) taking second and third place, respectively. The trio were D’Angelo’s three highest charting hits on the Billboard Hot 100: “Lady” reached No. 10, while “Untitled” claimed a No. 25 best and “Brown Sugar” maxed out at No. 27.

Largely thanks to those streams, all three tracks debut on the Hot R&B Songs chart, which launched in 2012. “Untitled” opens at No. 7, “Lady” begins at No. 8 and “Brown Sugar” starts at No. 10. Their arrival pushes D’Angelo to five entries Hot R&B Songs; the three join Black Messiah cuts “Really Love” (No. 14) and “Sugah Daddy” (No. 22), which peaked in January 2015, one month after their parent album’s release.

In addition to the streaming jump, D’Angelo’s song catalog sold 9,000 digital track downloads for the week, up from a negligible amount in the previous week. “Untitled” was the top seller, at 2,000 copies, and enters at No. 1 on the R&B Digital Song Sales chart.

Despite a modest catalog in size — only three albums in 30 years — D’Angelo, born Michael Archer, established himself as a pillar of the 1990s neo-soul music scene through large appreciation for the quality of his work. Alongside contemporaries including Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill and Maxwell, the neo-soul class focused on recapturing the live, thick instrumentation, rich songwriting and weighted, passionate delivery of its nominal genre predecessor. His debut album, 1995’s Brown Sugar, was a pioneering project of the neo-soul movement, and he hit his peak with 2000’s Voodoo, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and sparked two Grammy Award wins. After a long hiatus colored by personal issues that largely relegated his musical output to touring, D’Angelo returned in 2014 with Black Messiah, which reached No. 5 and scored another pair of Grammys.

His death drew scores of tributes from industry peers, including contemporaries and those influenced by his magnetic style. Beyoncé hailed his contributions, writing in part, “We thank you for your beautiful music, your voice, your proficiency on the piano, your artistry. You were the pioneer of neo-soul and that changed and transformed rhythm & blues forever. We will never forget you.”

Tyler, The Creator asserted that his own “musical dna was helped shaped by this man,” and Doja Cat praised him as “a true voice of soul and inspiration to many brilliant artists of our generation and generations to come.” Fellow neo-soul musician Jill Scott, meanwhile, shared, “I never met D’Angelo but I love him, respect him, admire his gift. This loss HURTS!! Love to my family that are family to him. I’m so sorry. R.I.P. GENIUS.”

Remember more of the artists who have passed away this year by visiting Billboard’s Gone But Not Forgotten gallery below: