The music world was rocked earlier this month when Jimmy Buffett passed away unexpectedly. The singer-songwriter had been battling cancer privately for years, and he finally succumbed on September 1. In the week or so since the news broke of his death, fans of the chill musician have been consuming his music non-stop, and now they’ve turned his biggest hit into a chart win once again.
On this week’s Hot 100, Buffett’s “Margaritaville” mounts a very special comeback. The track is present once again on the list of the most-consumed songs in the U.S. following a surge in interest in the cut. This frame, “Margaritaville” reappears on the chart at No. 38. Buffett’s hit is the second-loftiest entrant on the ranking this time around, coming in behind only Nicki Minaj’s “Last Time I Saw You.”
“Margaritaville” also returns to the top spot on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart. The weekly ranking of the bestselling tunes in America is not often dominated by older cuts, but Buffett was still incredibly popular at the time of his passing, and clearly fans wanted to show their support by purchasing the track once again–or perhaps for the first time.
The Hot 100 is compiled each week using a methodology that combines streams, sales, and airplay. “Margaritaville” likely didn’t perform especially well at radio, as it doesn’t appear on Billboard’s Radio songs chart, which ranks the tunes that reach the largest audience at radio in the U.S.
Buffett’s smash is present, however, on various sales and streaming tallies that focus on both country and rock, as “Margaritaville” is classified by Billboard as both styles. So, it appears that fans streaming and purchasing the track are responsible for its newfound success.
“Margaritaville” is Buffett’s biggest hit and the tune most often associated with his legacy. The track once climbed all the way to No. 8 on the Hot 100 back in the late ‘70s. At the time, it was pushed as a single from his album Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes. Since then, the title has remained his most successful release, and it is his only cut to make it to the top 10 on the Hot 100.
Read the full article here