Kenny Rogers Fans Mourn His Death by Streaming, Buying His Music

Country music fans have been honoring the late Kenny Rogers by streaming his music in big numbers, Billboard reports.

Rogers passed away of natural causes while in hospice care on March 20, and fans learned of his death on March 21. Since then, streams of his entire catalog of music surged 1,687 percent on March 21 and 22, compared to the two previous days, logging 18 million streams (compared to 1 million.) Rogers album and songs also saw big sales, equating to about 15,000 albums sold. In particular, Rogers’ single “The Gambler” sold nearly 13,000 downloads, and was streamed 3.7 million times, and his duet with Dolly Parton, “Islands In the Stream,” sold 12,000 copies and was streamed 1.6 millions times.

Forecasters predict that Rogers’ 2018 greatest hits album The Best of Kenny Rogers: Through the Years may have sold enough to hit the #1 spot on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.