Beyoncé sees spike in record sales after performance at Kobe’s memorial

Sales and streams for “XO” and “Halo” grew significantly after her heartfelt rendition of one of Bryant's favorite songs

Beyoncé has seen a hike in sales since she performed at Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna’s memorial service.

Dawn Onley

Mar 6, 2020

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Beyoncé has seen a hike in sales since she performed at Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna’s memorial service.

Since the singer performed at Bryant’s Feb. 24 service at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, sales and streams for “XO” and “Halo” grew significantly. In addition, sales for the albums that those songs are on grew as well.

For example, “XO” sold 3000 downloads in the week ending Feb. 27, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, prompting a No. 9 return to the Billboard R&B Digital Song Sales chart. The song also came in at No. 17 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales. Meanwhile “Halo” brought in 2,000 more sales during the same timeframe, and is back up at No. 12 on the R&B Digital Song Sales and No. 25 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales, Billboard reports.

On top of this, streaming rose significantly for both songs. “XO” pulled in 1.3 million on-demand U.S. streams for the week ending Feb. 27, a 258 percent hike from the previous week’s 362,000 streams, and “Halo” scored a 1 percent jump to 3.5 million on-demand streams during the same timeframe, according to Billboard.

Beyoncé’s 2008 I Am… Sasha Fierce album, which features “Halo,” also came back on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart at No. 24 and the Billboard 200 at No. 177. The singer’s self-titled 2013 album, which features “XO,” roared back at No. 25 on the R&B albums chart and No. 195 on the Billboard 200.

During the memorial service, Beyoncé said she chose “XO” since it was “one of (Kobe’s) favorite songs.” A few days later, Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, later posted a video to Instagram that showed Kobe and their daughter, Gianna, while “XO” plays.

View this post on Instagram

Missing you both so much #GigiBryant and @kobebryant MUSE documentary ❤️ Even missing your “earthquakes”- (leg shakes) song is XO by @beyonce Your love is bright as ever Even in the shadows Baby kiss me Before they turn the lights out Your heart is glowing And I’m crashing into you Baby kiss me Before they turn the lights out Before they turn the lights out Baby love me lights out In the darkest night hour (in the darkest night hour) I’ll search through the crowd (I’ll search through the crowd) Your face is all that I see I’ll give you everything Baby love me lights out Baby love me lights out You can turn my lights out We don’t have forever Ooh, baby daylight’s wasting You better kiss me Before our time has run out Mmm yeah Nobody sees what we see They’re just hopelessly gazing, oh Oh, baby take me, me Before they turn the lights out Before our time has run out Baby love me lights out In the darkest night…

A post shared by Vanessa Bryant ? (@vanessabryant) on Feb 27, 2020 at 8:30pm PST

Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California on Jan. 26, en route to a youth basketball game at his sports academy. It’s been speculated that the crash was caused by foggy weather conditions. An investigation is ongoing.