Prince dominates charts in wake of his sudden death

Prince tributes at Paisley Park
Tributes left outside Paisley Park (Image credit: Getty)

Sales of Prince’s music have soared in the days since his death last week at the age of 57.

In the UK, the top five slots in the Midweek Album Chart are taken up by Prince records. The Very Best Of Prince is at No.1, followed by Ultimate, Purple Rain, The Hits/The B-Sides and Sign O’ The Times.

In total, Prince makes up a quarter of the Top 40 – with 1999, Parade, Diamonds And Pearls, Hitnrun Phase One and Lovesexy also charting midweek.

The track Purple Rain sits at No.2 in the Midweek Singles Chart, with When Doves Cry at No.6, Kiss at No.11, Raspberry Beret at No.15, 1999 at No.17 and Little Red Corvette at No.26.

Meanwhile in the US, Nielsen Music says it tracked 2.3 million song sales and more than 579,000 albums sales from Prince’s catalog in the three days following his death last Thursday.

The 2001 compilation The Very Best Of Prince is at No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling more than 250,000 in the first three days since his death.

Prince was found dead at his Minnesota Paisley Park estate last Thursday. No cause of death has yet been confirmed. Tributes to the artist have been paid from across the music world.

Prince cremated at private ceremony

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.