NASHVILLLE, Tenn. (AP) – Morgan Wallen fans are buying up the country star’s latest album after a video showed him a racist slur last week.
Wallen’s second record, “Dangerous: The Double Album” retains its top spot for a fourth week on the Billboard all-genre album chart, less than a week after Wallen apologized for using racist language.
The country music industry was quick to react to publicly scold him and radio stations and streaming services removed his songs from their playlists. But fans responded by playing him even more.
Billboard Reports that his latest album sold 25,000 copies during the week ending February 4, up 102%, according to MRC Data. Billboard reported that the album’s streaming numbers are up slightly by 3%, which equates to approximately 160 million on-demand streams. Downloading songs from the album was also up 67%.
The bump in interest extended beyond just the current Wallen album. Daily sales of his first album “If I Know Me,” released in 2018, also increased from 200 to 2,500 in the week ending Feb. 4, according to data from MRC Data.
Wallen’s popularity had skyrocketed over the past year and songs like “Seven Summers” and “Wasted on You” earned him crossover success on pop radio. His album has already set streaming records and is the first country album to hit the Billboard 200 chart for four weeks since 2003, when the album ‘Up!’ Van Shania Twain spent five weeks at the top.
Billboard editor-in-chief Hannah Karp said interest in his music has increased somewhat with people curious about Red Light District in the wake of the scandal and the media attention. But she said that also shows how his fans are reacting to decisions to remove him from the radio as well.
“His fans probably stream him more because they can’t hear him on the radio anymore,” said Karp. “Some fans may stream him even more to show their support for him, which is something super fans and fan armies often do.”
Karp noted that album sales and downloads are generally much smaller than streaming numbers for all artists, so it doesn’t take much to drive big percentage jumps in sales.
Karp said it may be too early to predict long-term consequences for the Red Light District.
“We haven’t seen the full effect of the radio dropping his music on the playlists. Radio is really a powerful engine of consumption, so it’s possible that streaming and sales will eventually decline, ”she said.