Streams of music by singer George Michael shot up on Spotify by over 3,000 percent after the pop singer's death was announced. The iconic performer was found dead in his bed on Christmas morning, reportedly after suffering heart failure.
George Michael's "Last Christmas"
In the days leading up to Christmas, one of Michael's most popular songs, the now ironically titled "Last Christmas" sung as part of the duo Wham!, which included Michael's childhood friend Andrew Ridgeley, shot to the top 10 of the Spotify charts both globally and in his country of origin, the UK. On Dec. 24, the song sat at number three on the global streaming chart and number two in the UK.
Following reports of the death singer's on Sunday evening, "Last Christmas" took over the number one spot on the UK charts from previous chart topper "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey, and remained at number three globally.
Singers Death Prompts Huge Spike In Streams
As the sad news spread on Sunday evening, music fans worldwide began binge streaming other songs from Michael's back catalog, resulting in a reported 3,158 percent increase in streams of his music from the prior Sunday. Although some of that increase can be attributed to the natural increase for "Last Christmas" that occurs on the holidays, many of Michael's other famous tunes saw a big streaming surge.
After "Last Christmas," the second most streamed George Michael song on Spotify was the melancholy former chart topping ballad "Careless Whisper," followed by three upbeat tunes-from his first solo album of the same name, "Faith," "Freedom! '90" (the number one sequel to another huge Wham! hit, "Freedom"), and Wham!'s early breakthrough pop hit, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go."
Gellar Mixes Up Her Georges
Meanwhile, as the world mourned the death of Michael, actress Sarah Michelle Gellar posted an embarrassing tweet in which she accidentally confused the singer with another 80's icon who is still very much alive, Boy George, former lead singer of Culture Club.
The former star of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" tweeted, "Do you really want to hurt me? I guess you do 2016," with the hashtag #ripboygeorge. When told of her mistake, she deleted the tweet and followed up with a correction
"Just as sad when you get the correct information- #ripGeorgeMichael thank you to everyone who corrected me- it's still so sad, " Gellar tweeted, adding that "And for the record yes I completely know the difference between Boy George and George Michael- I heard incorrectly. My intentions were good."
