After Lou Reed’s death, Spotify streams rise 3,000%
If you’re remembering rock icon Lou Reed by playing his music on Spotify, you’re not alone.
Following his death Sunday, streams of songs by the avant-garde rocker and his band the Velvet Underground have increased by more than 3,000%, or 30-fold, in the last 12 hours, according to the streaming service.
Popular tracks on the streaming service include Reed’s solo hit “Walk on the Wild Side” and Velvet Underground classics such as “Sunday Morning,” “Pale Blue Eyes,” “Heroin” and “Sweet Jane.”
Reed died at the age of 71 in Southampton, N.Y., of complications from a liver transplant.
MP3 downloads of his “Walk on the Wild Side” are also getting a spike. At the time of this writing, the track ranks at No. 38 on Amazon.com’s rankings of the best-selling songs.
The Velvet Underground was hugely influential in rock history, though its debut album, “The Velvet Underground and Nico,” famously sold only 30,000 copies in five years.
However, according to numbers from Nielsen SoundScan compiled by Billboard, that album has sold about 560,000 copies since 1991.
Follow on Twitter: @rfaughnder
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