XXXTentacion, the young rapper with a controversial past who was shot and killed last week, has the most popular song in the country.
"Sad!" the lead single from this year's ?, rocketed to the top of the Billboard 100 this week after an outpouring of grief, outrage, and heated online encounters following his death. The song took the top spot from Drake's "Nice For What" and beat out Beyoncé and Jay-Z's joint effort "Apeshit." According to Nielsen, “Sad!” was streamed nearly 50 million times this week – up from about 15 million – a massive increase that shot it up from number 52 on the charts. Its previous peak, in March, was number 7.
According to Billboard, the reemergence of "Sad!" is the first time an artist has held a posthumous number one song since The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Mo Money Mo Problems" in 1997. "Sad!" is one of nine of the rapper's songs to emerge on the charts following his fatal shooting. The uptick in streaming is indicative of the rapper's sizable influence and outpouring of shock after his death.
A suspect was arrested late last week in connection with XXXTentacion's murder, according to the Broward County Police Department.