Young Dolph’s Streams Skyrocket 573% After His Death
The rapper was shot and killed Nov. 17 in his native Memphis at age 36,
Fans’ flurry of activity around the late Young Dolph‘s catalog yields noticeable results on the latest Billboard charts (dated Dec. 4).
The surge prompts two tracks to return to the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart, while an LP of his rebounds to the top 20 of Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. His overall U.S. song streams, meanwhile, vaulted 573% in the two weeks since his death, according to MRC Data.
Young Dolph, born Adolph Thornton, Jr., was shot and killed Nov. 17 in his native Memphis. He was 36.
On the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart, remembrance of the rapper’s music manifests in two debuts. “100 Shots” arrives at No. 9 and “Play Wit Yo Bitch” enters at No. 24. The former, notably, marks Young Dolph’s highest rank to-date on the chart. He logged his previous best in his only other appearance on R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales, via a featured turn on O.T. Genasis’ “Cut It,” which reached No. 21 in 2016.
“100 Shots,” originally released in 2017, sold 1,800 downloads (up 84%) in the week ending Nov. 25; “Play Wit Yo Bitch,” from the same year, moved 1,100 (up 113%).
While the older cuts drove the sales activity, Young Dolph’s most recent solo studio album, Rich Slave, makes the biggest impact on the album side. The 2020 LP re-enters the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart at No. 19, its highest placement since its second week on the list (at No. 14) in September 2020. (A week prior to that No. 14 rank, Rich Slave debuted and peaked at No. 3.)
Rich Slave earned 16,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Nov. 25, up 64% from the previous tracking week. The album concurrently advances 126-50 on the Billboard 200.
Beyond that, Young Dolph’s song catalog skyrocketed in streams in the wake of his death. The catalog (defined here as tracks with Young Dolph as a lead or co-lead artist) registered 210.8 million U.S. on-demand streams in the 14 days including and after his death (Nov. 17-30), a massive 573.4% increase from the 31.3 million U.S. on-demand streams in the two weeks prior (Nov. 3-16). Individual daily activity was highest on the day after the rapper’s murder, with 27.3 million on-demand clicks Nov. 18.
In the latest streaming tracking week (Nov. 19-25), and the first full tracking frame since Young Dolph’s death, his five most U.S. streamed songs were “100 Shots” (7.4 million streams), “Major,” featuring Key Glock (5.96 million), “Preach” (4.5 million), “1 Scale,” featuring G-Herbo (4.2 million), and “Talking to My Scale” (3.8 million).