One Direction & Liam Payne Streams and Sales Surge After Star’s Death
Following Payne's Oct. 16 death in Buenos Aires, streams of One Direction's catalog bounded by 675%, while Payne's solo material grew 858%.
Streams and sales of music from One Direction and Liam Payne surged both in the U.S. and globally following Payne’s Oct. 16 death in Buenos Aires, as listeners flocked to both the late 31-year-old’s solo material and the influential boyband in which he starred.
On Oct. 16, official on-demand U.S. streams of One Direction’s five-LP catalog totaled 5.9 million, a vault of 174% over 2.1 million the previous day, according to Luminate. On Oct. 17, they rose further to 22.2 million, up 278% over the day before.
The act – Payne, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson – formed in 2010 and went on hiatus in 2016, after Malik left in 2015. Four of its full-lengths hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with its last reaching No. 2.
Globally, One Direction pulled 21.3 million streams on Oct. 16, a 76% gain from 12.1 million on Oct. 15. The group’s catalog soared 298% to 84.9 million streams on Oct. 17.
As for Payne’s solo catalog, it sported 932,000 streams in the U.S. on Oct. 16, a 472% blast from 90,000 on Oct. 15. On Oct. 17, it ballooned another 120% to 3.8 million. Globally, the gain on Oct. 16 was 321% to 1.3 million (from 317,000), followed by, on Oct. 17, a 258% expansion to 4.8 million.
In the four days (Oct. 16-19) following Payne’s death, One Direction’s catalog accumulated 62.9 million streams in the U.S., a 675% gain over 8.2 million Oct. 12-15. Worldwide, the total was 254 million Oct. 16-19, up 442% over 46.9 million Oct. 12-15. Payne’s solo material drew 3.3 million streams in the U.S. Oct. 16-19, up 858% from 354,000, and 13.4 million globally, up 1,038% from 1.2 million.
Leading the way: “Night Changes,” a No. 31 hit for One Direction on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2014. The song drew 4.9 million U.S. streams Oct. 16-19 (including 556,000 on Oct. 16 and 1.5 million on Oct. 17), up 416% from 945,000 Oct. 12-15. Globally, the song received 24.5 million streams, up 220% from 7.7 million, during the same periods.
As a result, the track reenters both the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart (No. 95) and the Billboard Global 200 (No. 117), both dated Oct. 26.
In terms of volume of streams, One Direction’s “Story of My Life” follows. The No. 6 Hot 100 hit in 2013 garnered 4.8 million U.S. streams Oct. 16-19 (up 482% from 817,000 Oct. 12-15) and 22 million globally (up 426% from 4.2 million).
Payne’s top solo streamer was his lone Hot 100 top 10: “Strip That Down” (featuring Quavo), which hit No. 10 in 2017. It earned 2 million streams Oct. 16-19, up 593% from 291,000 Oct. 12-15. Globally, its numbers were 6.5 million Oct. 16-19, a 681% surge from 831,000 Oct. 12-15. “Teardrops,” released earlier this year, followed (430,000 U.S. streams, 2.2 million globally).
Song download sales of One Direction’s catalog totaled 6,000 Oct. 16-19, up 1,124% from a negligible amount Oct. 12-15.
Billboard’s LyricFind U.S. and LyricFind Global charts dated Oct. 26 feature multiple One Direction songs, led by “Little Things” on the U.S. ranking and “Story of My Life” on the Global survey. According to LyricFind, whose charts rank the fastest momentum-gaining tracks in lyric-search queries and usages, “Little Things,” which reached No. 33 on the Hot 100 in 2013, sported a 1,140% leap in activity in the U.S., while “Story of My Life” received a 464% increase globally. Two One Direction songs appear on the Global ranking, while the U.S. chart is populated by seven.
All Oct. 26-dated Billboard charts will update on Billboard.com on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
More appearances by One Direction and/or Payne are possible on the Nov. 2-dated Billboard charts, which will track the period of Oct. 18-24.
