One Direction earn biggest streaming day of all time following Liam Payne’s death

20 October, 2024

One Direction have achieved their biggest streaming day to date following the death of Liam Payne on Wednesday (October 16).

Payne was 31 when he died after falling from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Per The Guardian, the Argentinian prosecutor’s office revealed that Payne’s cause of death was due to multiple traumas and internal and external bleeding.

One Direction’s surviving members Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles shared a joint statement on Payne’s death earlier this week, where they expressed their devastation, and said they would need time “to grieve and process the loss of our brother, who we loved dearly.”

Since Payne’s tragic death, his former band’s music has been climbing streaming charts as fans reminisce on the songs that launched his career. On October 17, their music received 57.5 million streams worldwide – marking the biggest figures they’ve achieved on streaming platforms to date, per Complex.

The boyband is now the Number 1 artist on UK Spotify and the Number 2 artist globally, coming in just behind Taylor Swift, per Forbes.

‘Night Changes’, the band’s 2014 hit from their album ‘Four’ has been among the most-played, rising to No. 6 in Spotify’s daily global songs chart with more than 4.6 million streams and becoming No. 6 on TikTok’s trending songs.

Other songs that have re-entered the Spotify chart include ‘Story of My Life’, ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ and ‘Perfect’.

It follows fan vigils for Payne cropping up across the world, including in Liverpool and Argentina, where he died. Earlier this week, Payne’s father Geoff joined the crowds outside the Casa Sur Hotel and thanked fans who had gathered in memory of his son.

Across the music industry, others have paid respects to Payne, including Shawn Mendes, Maggie Rogers, Robbie Williams, Rita Ora, Liam Gallagher and Victoria Canal.

Cheryl, Payne’s ex-partner and mother to his 7-year-old son Bear, has spoken out about the “indescribably painful” loss and urged people to “give Liam the little dignity he has left”.

Kate Cassidy, Payne’s girlfriend at the time of his death, has also spoken out, saying: “I have been at a complete loss. Nothing about the past few days have felt real. I ask and pray that you’ll give me the grace and space to navigate this in private.”

In other news, Malik has postponed his US tour as a result of Payne’s death. The shows will now take place in January.

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