Man, this artist death economy is wild. Shortly after his death in January 2016, David Bowie’s music broke a number of records, including Adele’s VEVO streaming record and a charts record for number of songs on Billboard’s Hot Rock Song charts in the same month at 21.
Now, following the death of frontman Chester Bennington late last month, Linkin Park has broken the record for number of charting songs at 23, according to Billboard. Linkin Park’s highest charting song for the week of August 12th was their 2003 hit, “Numb,” which peaked at No. 2. According to Billboard’s current rules, “older songs are eligible to appear on the 50-position chart in the top 25 if sparked by a meaningful reason for their return to prominence.” Given Chester Bennington’s status as a rock star at a time when rock stars have become rare, his death definitely counts as a meaningful reason to spark Linkin Park’s resurgence.
With six songs debuting on the charts, Linkin Park now totals thirty-five career Hot Rock Songs entries, the second-most after Imagine Dragons’ 38. Linkin Park’s latest album, One More Light, rose 3-1 for a second week on top, up 122 percent to 50,000 equivalent album units — of which 32,000 are pure sales. The increase in popularity was undoubtedly helped along by the many, many tributes to Bennington from fellow artists, such as Coldplay’s moving cover of Linkin Park’s 2003 debut smash, “Crawling.”
