On-demand U.S. streams of Procol Harum’s catalog jumped 44% following the death of frontman Gary Brooker on Feb. 19. In the Feb. 18-24 tracking period, the band earned 518,000 on-demand official streams, a boost of 44% over Feb. 11-17 (359,000), according to MRC Data.
Additionally, Procol Harum’s music moved 1,700 downloads in the U.S., a 561% jump from a negligible amount the previous period.
Leading the way, “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” the band’s signature track, sold 1,300 downloads, a 537% boost. As such, it debuts at No. 12 on Rock Digital Song Sales, Procol Harum’s first appearance on the ranking. “Pale” was a No. 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967, the band’s lone top 10.
“Pale” also re-enters the LyricFind U.S. ranking at No. 1 and returns to LyricFind Global at No. 3. (The LyricFind Global and LyricFind U.S. charts rank the fastest momentum-gaining tracks in lyric-search queries and usages globally and in the U.S., respectively, provided by LyricFind. The Global chart includes queries from all countries, including the U.S. The company is the world’s leader in licensed lyrics, with data provided by more than 5,000 publishers and utilized by more than 100 services, including Amazon, Pandora, Deezer, Microsoft, SoundHound and iHeartRadio.)
According to LyricFind, “Pale” saw a 772% increase in lyric views and usages in the U.S. and a 559% such boost globally.
Brooker died of cancer at his Surrey, England, home on Feb. 19. He was 76.