Van Halen Songs Dominate Rock Charts After Eddie Van Halen’s Death
"Jump" tops Hot Hard Rock Songs, where the band boasts six of the top seven spots.
Van Halen‘s catalog infuses Billboard‘s charts following the death of founding guitarist Eddie Van Halen on Oct. 6 after his lengthy battle with throat cancer.
In the tracking week running Oct. 2-8, Van Halen’s discography earned 49.3 million U.S. on-demand streams, a jump of 463%, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Additionally, the band’s album sales spiked 1,442% to 27,000 in sales, while its digital song sales rose 2,522% to 88,000.
As such, multiple classic albums and songs by the band reach the Oct. 17-dated charts. Leading the way, “Jump” becomes the first catalog song in the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Hot Hard Rock Songs chart’s four-month history to reach No. 1, debuting atop the list, ahead of five other Van Halen songs. (Older titles are eligible to appear on Billboard‘s charts that employ the same methodology as the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 if ranking in the top half and with a meaningful reason for their return; for Hot Hard Rock Songs, a title has to reach the top 25 of Hot Rock & Alternative Songs in order to be eligible).
“Jump” reigns with 4.2 million U.S. streams (up 136%) and 8,000 downloads sold (up 2,176%) in the tracking week. The band’s only Hot 100 No. 1 (for five weeks in 1984), among 16 top 40 hits, additionally rules Hard Rock Digital Song Sales and Hard Rock Streaming Songs for the first time. It debuts at No. 2 on Rock Digital Song Sales and No. 9 on both Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Rock Streaming Songs.
Following “Jump” on Hot Hard Rock Songs are “Panama” (No. 2; 3.5 million streams, 6,000 sold), “Runnin’ With the Devil” (No. 3; 2.8 million streams, 5,000 sold), “You Really Got Me” (No. 5; 2.1 million streams, 5,000 sold), “Eruption” (No. 6; 2 million streams, 5,000 sold) and “Hot for Teacher” (No. 7; 2.4 million streams, 4,000 sold). “Eruption” in particular makes its first Billboard chart despite long being considered one of the genre’s greatest guitar solos of all time.
In addition to those six titles, nine other Van Halen songs reach Rock Digital Song Sales: “Why Can’t This Be Love” (No. 8), “Dance the Night Away” (No. 9), “Right Now” (No. 12), “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love” (No. 13), “Jamie’s Cryin'” (No. 14), “Dreams” (No. 15), “Love Walks In” (No. 17), “When It’s Love” (No. 23) and “I’ll Wait” (No. 24).
All the aforementioned Van Halen songs, plus “Beautiful Girls” (No. 18), “Unchained” (No. 20), “And the Cradle Will Rock…” (No. 21), “(Oh) Pretty Woman” (No. 23) and “Ice Cream Man” (No. 25), also make Hard Rock Digital Song Sales, giving Van Halen 20 of the chart’s 25 positions. That places the band in a tie with AC/DC for the most at one time in the tally’s history. AC/DC achieved the feat on the chart dated Dec. 8, 2012, after its catalog first became available digitally.
While not on the rock digital charts, a hit famously featuring Eddie Van Halen’s talents, Michael Jackson‘s “Beat It,” re-enters R&B Digital Song Sales at No. 10 with 1,000 downloads sold, up 201%. Van Halen contributed electric guitar to the song, including its iconic guitar solo.
Van Halen’s self-titled debut LP concurrently rules Hard Rock Albums, debuting at No. 1 with 18,000 equivalent album units earned (up 747%), followed by the band’s 1984 (No. 4; 15,000 units, up 402%), Best Of Volume 1 (No. 6; 13,000, up 1,256%) and The Best of Both Worlds (No. 11; 7,000, up 3,315%). The group lands four entries on the all-format Billboard 200, led by Van Halen at No. 30.
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Meanwhile, 20 of the 25 positions on the LyricFind U.S. chart, which tracks lyrics searches and usages in the U.S., are Van Halen songs. “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love” leads at No. 4 (up 9,100% in lyric views), followed by “Poundcake” (No. 5) and “Jump” (No. 6).
On the Social 50, Eddie Van Halen bows at No. 3, owed mostly to Wikipedia views (1.3 million in the Oct. 2-8 tracking week, up 14,907% from just 9,000), along with the band Van Halen (No. 9, with 19,000 Twitter mentions and 654,000 Wikipedia views) and on-and-off Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth (No. 28; 194,000 Wikipedia views, 27,000 Twitter reactions).
More gains for Van Halen’s music are likely on the Oct. 24 charts, following the first full tracking week (Oct. 9-15) of streams and sales following Eddie Van Halen’s passing.
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