One Direction reaches No. 2 on Spotify after Liam Payne’s death

After Liam Payne, a former member of One Direction, died on Oct. 16, the band’s music reentered the charts with a surge in streams.
Payne, who died last week after falling off a balcony, was a member of One Direction until the band broke up in 2016.
After the band, he started a solo music career and released an album, “LP1,″ in 2019, and earlier this year, he released the single “Teardrops.”
According to Forbes, between Oct. 16 and 17, One Direction rose from No. 55 to No. 2 on Spotify’s global artist chart. This made them the chart’s biggest gainer.
In the United States, One Direction landed at No. 3, rising 84 spots, while in the United Kingdom, they became the top artist on the daily artist chart.
One of the band’s most popular songs, “Night Changes,” climbed to No. 6 on Spotify’s daily global songs chart, with more than 4.6 million streams.
After Payne’s death, the band had nine other songs which reentered the global Spotify chart, including “Story of my Life,” “Perfect” and “What Makes You Beautiful.”
According to Billboard, One Direction’s catalog reached 5.9 million streams on Oct. 16, rising significantly from 2.1 million streams the day before.
Streaming of the band’s music continued to increase with 22.2 million streams on Oct. 17.
One Direction’s music received 62.9 million streams in the U.S. in the four days after Payne’s death (Oct. 16-19).
According to Billboard, between Oct. 16 and 19, One Direction’s music had a total of 6,000 song download sales, a 1,124% increase from the period of Oct. 12-15.
Payne’s solo music catalog, which is made up of one album and a few singles, also saw a surge in streaming numbers.
His music received 932,000 streams in the U.S. on Oct. 16, rising from 90,000 streams the day before, per Billboard.
On Oct. 17, his solo music reached 3.8 million streams in the U.S. and 4.8 million globally.
Payne’s top solo song, “Strip That Down,” which reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 when it was released in 2017, earned 2 million streams between Oct. 16 and 19, according to Billboard.
Payne’s former bandmate Zayn Malik posted on Instagram and X on Saturday, announcing he would be postponing his U.S. tour, per the Los Angeles Times.
“Given the heartbreaking loss experienced this week, I’ve made the decision to postpone the US leg of the STAIRWAY TO THE SKY Tour,” wrote Malik on X.
“The dates are being rescheduled for January and I’ll post them as soon as it’s all set in the next few days. Your tickets will remain valid for the new dates. Love you all and thank you for your understanding.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, the tour was scheduled to begin this week on Oct. 23 in San Francisco.