Remembering the lives of deceased artists

[Sherane Lamar]

Let's make this thread dedicated to the artists who have hit the Hot 100 shortly after they died, specifically because of fans paying respect to and reflecting on the person's career. 

When Elvis died, in 1977, the charts didn't show it. He just had a few posthumous releases, and then stopped charting. 

But in this decade, we're lucky to have the power of iTunes and streaming services to visualize the respect fans pay to deceased artists directly on the charts. 

Whitney Houston

www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/2012-02-25

www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/2012-03-03

www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/2012-03-10

I Will Always Love You (3, 7, 30)

I Wanna Dance With Somebody (35, 21, -)

The Greatest Love Of All (41, 36, -)

How Will I Know (-, 49, -)

David Bowie

www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/2016-01-30

Lazarus (40) <- NEW

Space Oddity (42)

Under Pressure (45) <- Queen & David Bowie

Blackstar (78) <- NEW

Prince

www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/2016-05-07

www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/2016-05-14

Purple Rain (17, 4) <- Prince And The Revolution

When Doves Cry (20, 8)

Little Red Corvette (29, 20)

Kiss (28, 23) <- Prince And The Revolution 

Let's Go Crazy (39, 25) <- Prince And The Revolution

1999 (41, 27)

Raspberry Beret (-, 33) <- Prince And The Revolution

I Would Die 4 U (-, 39) <- Prince And The Revolution 

Leonard Cohen

www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/2016-12-03

Hallelujah (59) <- NEW, Leonard Cohen's Hot 100 debut, 9th version of the song to chart

George Michael

www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/2017-01-14

Careless Whisper (33) <- Wham! Featuring George Michael, previously credited only as Wham!

Last Christmas (41) <- Wham!, coincidentally debuted on 2017-01-07 unrelated to his death, held for a second week because of his death. 

Faith (47)

[Gary]

Jul 20, 2017 16:33:50 GMT -5 Sherane Lamar said:

Let's make this thread dedicated to the artists who have hit the Hot 100 shortly after they died, specifically because of fans paying respect to and reflecting on the person's career. 

When Elvis died, in 1977, the charts didn't show it. He just had a few posthumous releases, and then stopped charting. 

Referring to the Hot 100, I suppose - as you say - no itunes. 

However, it wasn't non existent.  "Way Down" was the song charting at the time of his death peaked at #31 prior to his death, it fell off the top 40 and re-entered the top 40 for a few weeks after his death eventually peaking at #18.


Lots of tribute songs were recorded by other artists, the one that made the pop top 40 was 'The King is Gone" by Ronnie McDowell

[Golden Bluebird]

"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen reentered the Hot 100 back in 1992 due to the death of Freddie Mercury. That 1992 chart run also gave the song a new peak. It initially peaked at #9 back in 1976 but then peaked at #2 in 1992.

I think there may be a few other Queen songs that reentered the Hot 100, but I don't know if that happened. If it did, let me know. All I know is that "Bohemian Rhapsody" was the only Queen song to enter the Top 10 after Freddie Mercury's death.

[Gary]

Jul 20, 2017 18:34:58 GMT -5 Golden Bluebird said:

"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen reentered the Hot 100 back in 1992 due to the death of Freddie Mercury. That 1992 chart run also gave the song a new peak. It initially peaked at #9 back in 1976 but then peaked at #2 in 1992.

I think there may be a few other Queen songs that reentered the Hot 100, but I don't know if that happened. If it did, let me know. All I know is that "Bohemian Rhapsody" was the only Queen song to enter the Top 10 after Freddie Mercury's death.

Would not have hit #2 based soley on his death it got a  huge assist from Wayne's World

[Sherane Lamar]

Jul 20, 2017 18:34:58 GMT -5 Golden Bluebird said:

"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen reentered the Hot 100 back in 1992 due to the death of Freddie Mercury. That 1992 chart run also gave the song a new peak. It initially peaked at #9 back in 1976 but then peaked at #2 in 1992.

I think there may be a few other Queen songs that reentered the Hot 100, but I don't know if that happened. If it did, let me know. All I know is that "Bohemian Rhapsody" was the only Queen song to enter the Top 10 after Freddie Mercury's death.

I always hear it attributed to Wayne's World. 

[Golden Bluebird]

Jul 20, 2017 18:51:21 GMT -5 Sherane Lamar said:

Jul 20, 2017 18:34:58 GMT -5 Golden Bluebird said:

"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen reentered the Hot 100 back in 1992 due to the death of Freddie Mercury. That 1992 chart run also gave the song a new peak. It initially peaked at #9 back in 1976 but then peaked at #2 in 1992.

I think there may be a few other Queen songs that reentered the Hot 100, but I don't know if that happened. If it did, let me know. All I know is that "Bohemian Rhapsody" was the only Queen song to enter the Top 10 after Freddie Mercury's death.

I always hear it attributed to Wayne's World. 

I mean, it can be both, right?

[Gary]

Jul 20, 2017 18:54:21 GMT -5 Golden Bluebird said:

Jul 20, 2017 18:51:21 GMT -5 Sherane Lamar said:

I always hear it attributed to Wayne's World. 

I mean, it can be both, right?

I suppose, but most of the credit goes to the Wayne's World exposure.

[Golden Bluebird]

Jul 20, 2017 18:58:36 GMT -5 Gary said:

Jul 20, 2017 18:54:21 GMT -5 Golden Bluebird said:

I mean, it can be both, right?

I suppose, but most of the credit goes to the Wayne's World exposure.

Okay, I guess Bohemian Rhapsody's 1992 rechart isn't a very strong example of a song recharting due to an artist's death, so maybe scratch that one.

[Libra]

Jul 20, 2017 16:33:50 GMT -5 Sherane Lamar said:

Let's make this thread dedicated to the artists who have hit the Hot 100 shortly after they died, specifically because of fans paying respect to and reflecting on the person's career. 

When Elvis died, in 1977, the charts didn't show it. He just had a few posthumous releases, and then stopped charting. 

But in this decade, we're lucky to have the power of iTunes and streaming services to visualize the respect fans pay to deceased artists directly on the charts. 

A big part of the perception of this being the case is due to the nature of how the Hot 100 was compiled.

Remember that prior to 1991, airplay was shown through radio station playlist reports as opposed to monitoring, and sales was shown through retail outlet reports (their equivalent of "playlists" - they'd list their top sellers in order) as opposed to tracking piece counts. Thus, both factors were very inverse-point-based as opposed to being able to reflect their respective volumes (i.e. the amounts of airplay/sales).

This also meant that the chart was very tightly-controlled in the sense that it was all about showcasing the top currently-promoted hits. It didn't really allow for unsolicited figures to come through - at least, not so easily. If stations were going to play songs from an artist who'd just died, they'd have to report that airplay on their playlist, or else that airplay would not be counted. If people were going to rush out and buy product from an artist who'd just died, it fell on the stores to report those sales. If said artist didn't have anything current, odds are the sales were not reflected anywhere on the Hot 100. Thus, why Elvis's "Way Down" fell down shortly after he died, but then went back up for a bit - the resurgence was very likely from fan/consumer and probably some station outpouring. Had he not had that current single, it doesn't seem likely that anything would have popped up (maybe something on the lower part of the Hot 100, but not within the Top 40).

With airplay monitoring and direct sales tracking (and now stream monitoring), "unsolicited" events such as reactions to artists' deaths, show through more readily because these methods are so much more flexible and don't rely so much on...shall we say, chart "gatekeepers" for reporting these happenings, per se.

[renfield75]

Jul 20, 2017 19:06:16 GMT -5 Golden Bluebird said:

Jul 20, 2017 18:58:36 GMT -5 Gary said:

I suppose, but most of the credit goes to the Wayne's World exposure.

Okay, I guess Bohemian Rhapsody's 1992 rechart isn't a very strong example of a song recharting due to an artist's death, so maybe scratch that one.

Yeah, Freddie died in November of 1991 but "Bohemian Rhapsody" didn't re-enter until March of '92 (when Wayne's World was released). But you are correct that there was a strong public sentiment for Freddie following his death and that certainly played a big part in the song's resurgence. In other words, it wouldn't have re-charted had it not been re-released due to the movie, but it most likely wouldn't have gone as high as #2 had Freddie not recently passed.

[Baby Yoda Hot100Fan]

Probably the one death of an artist that had lead to the most changes in the Billboard 200 to allow older albums that could previously only chart in Catalog Albums was Michael Jackson's. Here's the article that reflects the impact on the charts following his death:

Michael Jackson Breaks Billboard Charts Records

[macabyan]

Okay this might be just me, but I find the title "celebrating" with "deceased artists" quite off and appalling. Maybe the word you were looking for was "remembering" or "commemorating".

[Au$tin]

Eh, it's really not. A lot of people celebrate the life of a deceased person. There's an entire holiday in Mexico dedicated to it, for example, called Dia de Los Muertos, and an Irish tradition called a wake.

But, I do think based on what this thread is about, "reflecting" is the more correct term since most people do purchase, stream, listen to music of deceased artists right after their deaths to reflect on their careers and how they played a role in their own lives.

[85la]

Jul 20, 2017 18:12:05 GMT -5 Gary said:

Jul 20, 2017 16:33:50 GMT -5 Sherane Lamar said:

Let's make this thread dedicated to the artists who have hit the Hot 100 shortly after they died, specifically because of fans paying respect to and reflecting on the person's career. 

When Elvis died, in 1977, the charts didn't show it. He just had a few posthumous releases, and then stopped charting. 

Referring to the Hot 100, I suppose - as you say - no itunes. 

However, it wasn't non existent.  "Way Down" was the song charting at the time of his death peaked at #31 prior to his death, it fell off the top 40 and re-entered the top 40 for a few weeks after his death eventually peaking at #18.


Lots of tribute songs were recorded by other artists, the one that made the pop top 40 was 'The King is Gone" by Ronnie McDowell

Yeah, and the story was different on the Billboard 200. His current album at the time, Moody Blue, stalled at #24 right before his death, but then jumped to #3 soon after, and another album of his released later that year also went to #5, while none of his albums in the previous couple years made the top 40. I'd imagine catalog sales for some of his older albums shot up as well.

[Sherane Lamar]

Jul 20, 2017 23:03:56 GMT -5 macabyan said:

Okay this might be just me, but I find the title "celebrating" with "deceased artists" quite off and appalling. Maybe the word you were looking for was "remembering" or "commemorating".

I actually choose my words carefully in order to do the opposite. 

A lot of times, people describe funerals as a "celebration of life". I figure that's a respectful way of putting it. 

Rather than "these artists are recharting because they died", I think it really is more accurate to say they recharted because they are legends, and their fans are celebrating the impact that they had on the world of music.". 

But yeah, I do see what you're saying. I'll change it to "Remembering". 

[Baby Yoda Hot100Fan]

Regardless, it's sad that it has gotten to the point that some artists have to die before their music is "discovered" by the younger generations.

BTW, interestingly Leonard Cohen passing away helped Pentatonix's Hallelujah version debut and then his own version debuted.

[Sherane Lamar]

Jul 21, 2017 9:28:54 GMT -5 Baby Yoda Hot100Fan said:

Regardless, it's sad that it has gotten to the point that some artists have to die before their music is "discovered" by the younger generations.

BTW, interestingly Leonard Cohen passing away helped Pentatonix's Hallelujah version debut and then his own version debuted.

Pentatonix came three weeks prior to his though.

[Baby Yoda Hot100Fan]

^Regardless, it's interesting so many cover versions entered the Hot 100 before his original entered. I don't there's any other song for which that can be said.

[Sherane Lamar]

Jul 21, 2017 9:45:24 GMT -5 Baby Yoda Hot100Fan said:

^Regardless, it's interesting so many cover versions entered the Hot 100 before his original entered. I don't there's any other song for which that can be said.

I think it's a certifiable fact. 

In fact, I don't think any song has charted as many versions as Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" has.

[Sherane Lamar]

Just for reference on Hallelujah:

Kate Voegele: 2008-05-31

Justin Timberlake: 2010-02-06

k.d. lang: 2010-03-06

Lee DeWyze: 2010-06-12

Matthew Schuler: 2013-11-30

Jordan Smith: 2015-12-19

Lindsey Stirling: 2016-01-09

Pentatonix: 2016-11-12

Leonard Cohen: 2016-12-03


Oops. Looks like I miscounted. 9 versions, and Leonard Cohens is the latest to chart.

[flextamcsignals]

Hallelujah charting surprised me, because I thought Billboard had a rule that old songs can only be in the top 50, even if they've never been on the chart before. It explains why Black Hole Sun didn't chart after Chris Cornell's death.

[Baby Yoda Hot100Fan]

^Actually, in the case of Black Hole Sun, it didn't originally chart since it was airplay-only in 1994 and although it did manage to chart in the Hot 100 Airplay and Mainstream Top 40.

They do seem to have made an exception ('chart editor discretion') for Hallelujah, since it charted for a single week in Hot Singles Sales in 2012:

Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' Hits Hot 100 for First Time

[Deleted]

In The End and Numb are #21 and #47 on Apple Music. Spotify positions must be higher. I think those at least will chart in the top 50 on Hot 100

[Baby Yoda Hot100Fan]

In theory, Heavy wouldn't need to chart within the top 50 to be able to re-enter the Hot 100 since it hasn't reached 20 weeks yet and presumably hasn't charted in Hot 100 Recurrents.

[Michael1973]

Roy Orbison's "You Got It" would be an example.

Also, Nirvana had a couple of top 40 hits shortly after Kurt Cobian's death.

[Sherane Lamar]

I need to update this.