Linkin Park were the world’s most popular artist on Spotify on Saturday | Music Business Worldwide

The tragic news of the death of Chester Bennington reverberated around global media after hitting headlines on Thursday last week (July 20).

The 41-year-old Linkin Park frontman’s death was a suspected suicide, with the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office confirming that Bennington died by hanging.

Linkin Park fans paid tribute to Bennington in the most direct way in the days after his passing.

So much so, they produced something very rare in the modern age: a day when a rock band were officially the most popular artist across the world on Spotify.

According to stats pulled by streaming data monitor Kworb, Linkin Park clocked up 14.77m chart-eligible Spotify plays on Saturday (July 22).

That was more than global pop and hip-hop superstars such as Justin Bieber (12.6m), Quavo (10.4m), Daddy Yankee (9.9m), J Balvin (9.1m) and DJ Khaled (7.73m).

These streams don’t even reflect the full popularity of Linkin Park on the day: to prevent people gaming the system, Spotify puts a cap on the number of plays each individual can log in its public-facing numbers within a 24 hour period.

The Spotify Global Top 50 currently contains Linkin Park classics including In The End,  Numb and Heavy.

Linkin Park released their latest album, One More Light, in May via Warner Bros / Machine Stop.

In a tribute to Chester Bennington, Warner Bros boss Cameron Strang said: “Chester Bennington was an artist of extraordinary talent and charisma, and a human being with a huge heart and a caring soul. Our thoughts and prayers are with his beautiful family, his bandmates and his many friends.

“All of us at WBR join with millions of grieving fans around the world in saying: we love you Chester and you will be forever missed.”

Spotify’s Top 10 biggest artists on Saturday, July 22 (chart-eligible streams)

1. Linkin Park (14,774,401)
2. Justin Bieber (12,617,702)
3. Quavo (10,383,141)
4. Daddy Yankee (9,911,016)
5. J Balvin (9,091,179)
6. DJ Khaled (7,725,408)
7. Luis Fonsi (7,530,510)
8. Ed Sheeran (6,738,871)
9. Calvin Harris (6,059,278)
10. Ozuna (5,702,783)

Music Business Worldwide

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