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Streams Of Michael Jackson’s Songs Increase Since “Leaving Neverland”

By Violet Johnson
19 October 2019   |   7:53 am
Since the airing of HBO docuseries which details the allegations leveled against Michael Jackson, the singer's music streams witnessed a spike. Music industry magazine Billboard identified the increase while analyzing data from before and after the release of “Leaving Neverland,” a documentary about two men who allege they were sexually abused by Jackson when they were children.…

Since the airing of HBO docuseries which details the allegations leveled against Michael Jackson, the singer’s music streams witnessed a spike.

Music industry magazine Billboard identified the increase while analyzing data from before and after the release of “Leaving Neverland,” a documentary about two men who allege they were sexually abused by Jackson when they were children.

The number of on-demand listens garnered by Jackson’s catalog on streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music increased by 22.1% in the 31 weeks following the film’s release in March by HBO, slightly outpacing the 21.8% growth experienced by the streaming industry as a whole, Billboard reported.

US popstar Michael Jackson. AFP PHOTO/Carl de Souza (Photo credit should read CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, radio stations played Jackson’s music 32.1% less following the film’s release, according to the magazine. An analysis of Nielsen Music data suggested Jackson’s songs were played an average of 14,000 per week on radio in the month before HBO first aired the movie, while stations have played his music roughly 11,000 times weekly in the months since, the report said.

Even though the allegations of child molestation had been on since the early 1990s, the release of “Leaving Neverland” called graphic attention to the claims and put the future of his posthumous career in question.

Radio stations in several countries stopped playing Jackson’s music in response, and he was publicly denounced by a number of his past collaborators.

Michael Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50.

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