Kanye’s streams, radioplays see drops after row over his anti-Semitic stance. Repercussions are surfacing for Kanye West’s recent hateful remarks as his album sales have plummeted.
According to the latest data from Luminate, albums by Kanye West (who now goes by Ye) are down 23 per cent (through October 20, as compared to the previous week) and airplay (spins on radio) has dropped off to the tune of 13 per cent in the U.S., reports ‘Variety’.
On some stations, like Los Angeles’ KIIS-FM, the rapper’s rotation in the last week went down to zero. In every monitored category, including physical and digital sales, programmed and on-demand streaming, West has seen some losses domestically.
According to ‘Variety’, worldwide, West’s sales have declined by 17.5 per cent, per Luminate, while streams dipped 2 per cent, through October 20.
So far in 2022, West’s total on-demand streams in the U.S. hover around 3.8 billion; in album sales, he’s moved just over 363,000 year-to-date with older titles like ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’, ‘College Dropout’ and ‘Late Registration’ seeing the most activity.
‘Variety’ further states that the rapper’s controversial remarks about Jewish people, which led to his Twitter and Instagram accounts being restricted, have gotten louder between October 6, when he appeared on ‘Tucker Carlson’, and October 19, when an interview with Piers Morgan was released in its entirety. But so have calls to boycott the artist and his businesses.
Recently, anti-semitic demonstrators gathered on a 405 Freeway overpass in Los Angeles and hung banners praising West. Fliers were also distributed around Brentwood identifying entertainment executives as “Jewish”.
