This week on the music charts, Prince is No. 1. And No. 2, and No. 6, and on and on.
After Prince died on Thursday, his fans rushed to listen to his music, but since it is mostly unavailable for streaming — Tidal is the only major streaming outlet that has Prince's full catalog — they did something that fewer and fewer people do anymore: actually buy the music.
"The Very Best of Prince," a 2001 compilation chocked with classic hits like "When Doves Cry" and "Kiss," shot to No. 1 on Billboard's latest album chart with 100,000 sales and 292,000 streams in the United States, according to data from Nielsen. "Purple Rain," the 1984 album that made Prince a global superstar, is No. 2 with 63,000 sales and 71,000 streams, and another collection, "The Hits: The B-Sides," is No. 6.
In all, Prince has eight albums in the Top 200. His sales are all the more remarkable since the music industry's standard accounting week ends at midnight Thursday, so the vast majority of these purchases were made in little more than 12 hours, once news of Prince's death emerged around midday Thursday.
The sales have continued. For Thursday, Friday and Saturday — a period that stretches across last week's sales week as well as the one that just began — Prince has sold 579,000 albums, which according to Nielsen is up some 42,000 percent from the previous three days, when Prince's catalog sold only 1,400 copies.
Also this week, the country singer Sturgill Simpson's new album, "A Sailor's Guide to Earth" (Atlantic), opened at No. 3, and Santana's new "Santana IV" (Santana IV/Thirty Tigers) started at No. 5. Rihanna's "Anti" (Roc Nation) is No. 4, and last week's top seller, the Lumineers' "Cleopatra" (Dualtone), fell to No. 9.