Michael Jackson, R. Kelly see boost in music downloads despite sexual abuse allegations

Apparently the serious allegations made against the two singers in recent bombshell documentaries have not hurt their album sales, and in fact have had the opposite effect

Dawn Onley

Mar 13, 2019

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Persistent and disturbing allegations of sexual misconduct involving children appear to be doing nothing to stop the diehard fans of Michael Jackson and R. Kelly from downloading their music.

According to the New York Daily News, both performers have experienced an increase in online purchases for both singles and albums. Despite the shocking details about Michael Jackson alleged in Leaving Neverland, two of his popular albums “The Essential Michael Jackson” and “Thriller” appear on this week’s Billboard 200, coming in at numbers 92 and 141, respectively.

Last week, Nielsen Music reported that about 16.5 million Jackson songs were downloaded and 22.1 million videos of the artist were viewed.

And despite Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly docuseries where dozens of women allege the R&B singer sexually abused them while they were underage, there was a 3 percent increase in the number of viewers who tuned in to watch his music videos.

This comes a week after Kelly took part in a CBS News interview with Gayle King, where he flew into a frenzy before the cameras as he maintained his innocence. He was also jailed for a few days last week after failing to pay outstanding child support. Kelly received a 71 percent hike in airplay as a result.

Jackson, however saw airplay drop 21 percent last week from two weeks ago. Reports have surfaced that there are stations who have decided to pull Jackson’s music from their rotation, much as they did when the allegations against Kelly became stronger in recent years.

Commercial broadcaster MediaWorks explained that their decision to pull Jackson’s music was in keeping up with what their supporters wanted.

“Michael Jackson isn’t currently on any MediaWorks Radio stations’ playlists,” Leon Wratt, the company’s director for radio, said in a statement. “This is a reflection of our audiences and their preferences — it is our job to ensure our radio stations are playing the music people want to hear.”

Also pulling Jackson was station NZME and three Montreal-based radio stations in Canada have also reportedly decided against playing the late singer’s songs.

Kelly, on the other hand, has been dropped by radio stations in North Carolina, Texas, Arlington, Va. and numerous other channels.