The fans of Amercian singer Robert Sylvester Kelly better known as R.Kelly have remained committed to streaming his music as his sales recently soared by 517%.
According to reports, from Rolling Stone R’kellys music has skyrocketed by 517 percent after he was convicted in New York for racketeering and sex trafficking.
The R&B singer’s audio streams were also up 22% while his video streams were up 23% compared to the week before he was found guilty.
Streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify previously joined in on a movement to “mute” Kelly by not including his songs on curated playlists. Fellow celebrities who collaborated with Kelly in the past, including Chance the Rapper and Lady Gaga, also pulled their songs with him from the platforms. Still, Kelly’s music has been available for those who want to stream it.
Rolling Stone’s report noted that Kelly’s streams haven’t actually dropped off at all over the past four years despite the several sexual abuse allegations against him. In 2017, he reportedly earned an average of 5.4 million streams a week, and this year, he’s allegedly averaged around 6.4 million.
So far, the only platform that has actually scrubbed his content is YouTube, which shut down two of his official accounts last week and prevented him from creating additional channels in the future. But even on YouTube, users can find unofficial uploads and user-generated posts related to Kelly, like covers of his songs.
His music also remains accessible on the company’s music streaming service, YouTube Music.
Kelly is far from the first start to see his music surge in popularity in the midst of controversy. A similar situation occurred earlier this year after country singer Morgan Wallen was caught using a racial slur.
It’s likely that Kelly’s streams and sales will see a dip in the coming days. However, more spikes like this could come in the near future as he remains in the spotlight for his upcoming sentencing in May and his separate sex crime charges in other states.
Kelly’s charges in Chicago, Illinois, include child pornography and obstruction of Justice. The disgraced singer faces additional outstanding criminal charges in Cook County for aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four victims, including three minors. In Minnesota, Kelly is charged with engaging in prostitution with a minor.
