Rush music sales have increased by over 2,000% since the death of the band’s drummer Neil Peart, figures have revealed.
The visionary stickman passed away earlier this month (January 7) after quietly battling brain cancer for the past three years, as confirmed by Elliott Mintz, a spokesperson for the Peart family.
Peart’s Rush bandmates, singer/bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson, shared a statement a few days after this death, calling Peart their “friend, soul brother and bandmate over 45 years,” and said that he had been “incredibly brave” in his battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
It has now been revealed that in the days following Peart’s death, streams of Rush’s songs surged by 776% in the U.S., according to initial reports from Nielsen Music/MRC Data (via Billboard).
On-demand audio and video streams of Rush’s catalog of songs increased to a combined 24.54 million from January 10-13 – up 776.4% as compared to the previous four days (2.8 million on January 6-9).
The band’s most-streamed song during the same period was the 1981 hit ‘Tom Sawyer’, with 2.82 million streams (up 305% as compared to the 698,000 streams it registered January 6-9).
As far as sales go, Rush’s catalogue of songs grew by 2,304% to 19,000 (from 1,000), while the group’s album sales gained 1,820% to 6,000 (up from an insufficient figure).
Meanwhile, Foo Fighters‘ Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins have shared moving tributes to Neil Peart.
“Today, the world lost a true giant in the history of rock and roll,” Grohl said in a statement released on social media. “An inspiration to millions with an unmistakable sound who spawned generations of musicians – like myself – to pick up two sticks and chase a dream. A kind, thoughtful, brilliant man who ruled our radios and turntables not only with his drumming, but also his beautiful words.”
Elsewhere, Tool performed a live tribute to Peart during a recent concert in San Diego.
Metallica also shared a live cover of Rush‘s ‘Tom Sawyer’ in honour of Peart.
