Aaliyah fans are feeling like “that somebody” this Friday morning! The late R&B singer is trending on Twitter after her album One in a Million finally dropped on streaming services.
Barry Hankerson, the owner of Blackground Music and Aaliyah’s uncle, announced earlier this month that the late singer’s catalogue would finally hit streaming services, starting with her 1996 album, One in a Million. Well, the album is finally here and available on all streaming services, with the R&B legend trending on Twitter just hours after its release.
Now, old and new fans across the world are celebrating a trailblazing artist gone too soon.
Fans immediately flocked to Twitter to raise up Aaliyah, shouting out the already impressive numbers the album is doing on platforms like Spotify. One fan posted a screenshot of the album’s performance, writing in a tweet, “i’m sorry but these numbers after an hour and 45 mins post-release just confirms how influential and important we’ve been saying aaliyah is for the past 20 years.”
Another fan shared similar sentiments, writing, “aaliyah got a 25 year old album at #1 within an hour ahhhhh that’s history.”
Many fans also seemed to speak to Aaliyah’s influence on today’s music landscape, and how her hits on the One in a Million album were some of the first collaborations from esteemed artists and producers Timbaland and Missy Elliot.
“25 years ago, Aaliyah, Tim and Missy reinvented music with the release of “One In A Million,” one user wrote. Another fan wrote, “Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, and Timbaland were a special team that gave us timeless music. Glad the family & label are able to start getting Aaliyah’s music on streaming.”
While fans are rejoicing today, Aaliyah’s journey to streaming has been curious, to say the least. Aaliyah’s estate has publicly slammed the label for releasing the music, as theGrio previously reported.
They shared in a statement earlier this month, “Protecting Aaliyah’s legacy is, and will always be our focus. For 20 years we have battled behind the scenes, enduring shadowy tactics of deception with unauthorized projects targeted to tarnish. We have always been confused as to why there is such as tenacity in causing more pain alongside what we already have to cope with for the rest of our lives.”
Next up for streaming will be the Romeo Must Die movie soundtrack (Sept. 3), and then her final self-titled album Aaliyah (Sept. 10), followed by the posthumous projects I Care 4 U and Ultimate Aaliyah (Oct. 8).
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!