The second-biggest gains went to Sweetener’s “R.E.M,” streams of which rose 94% from 43,000 on Aug. 5 to 84,000 on Aug. 8. Streams of “The Way,” Grande’s 2013 collaboration with Mac Miller, rose 44% from 146,000 to 211,000. Streams of thank u, next standout “7 rings” rose 23% from 446,000 to 552,000. “Positions,” Grande’s most recent hit single, gained an extra 10,000 or so streams – from 611,000 to 621,000 – but given the song’s high starting stream count, the surge only accounted for a 2% increase.
Grande’s concert also included a handful of tracks by other artists, which enjoyed streaming gains as well. Australian rock band Wolfmother‘s “Victorious” saw the biggest percentage jump of all: Streams rose from close to 3,000 to close to 23,000, marking a 663% increase. Streams of the Labrinth, Sia and Diplo supergroup LSD’s track “Audio” jumped 222% from 21,000 to 68,000, and streams of “Come & Go” by Juice Wrld featuring Marshmello rose 35%, from 564,000 to 759,000.
The event doesn’t appear to have made much of a difference on streams of Grande’s total catalog, which actually dropped by 2% between Aug. 5, when her catalog accumulated 7.29 million streams, and Aug. 8, when her catalog collected 7.18 million streams.
“The Rift Tour” was billed as Fortnite’s follow-up event to Travis Scott’s “Astronomical” in-game concert in April 2020, but Grande’s streaming gains from the concert pale in comparison to Scott’s – whose entire catalog surged 136% the day after his debut Fortnite concert. So what could account for the gap in streaming impact?
Unlike “The Rift Tour,” “Astronomical” included the arrival of a brand-new track: “The Scotts,” Scott’s collaboration with Kid Cudi that was live-debuted during the concert and rocketed to No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart the following week. Not counting “The Scotts,” streams of Travis’ discography still rose by 38%. But when comparing these events, it’s also worth noting that “Astronomical” took place just a month into the coronavirus pandemic, when music fans across the globe had nowhere else to go but online – and at roughly the same time that Scott would have been headlining the cancelled Coachella 2020, inadvertently framing his Fortnite performance as a replacement. All these factors helped Scott draw a stunning 27.7 million unique players to his concert.
