When famous artists pass on, the perceived value of their work sometimes triples. But when icons pass away, their art goes up nearly tenfold. So it’s no surprise that Prince’s catalog would sell so much after his unexpected passing last Thursday.

As of this Monday, Prince has sold 2.8 million songs and more than 650,000 albums, both physically and digitally, since news of his death broke. In the three days before his passing, he only sold 1,400 copies, according to USA Today.

Sales peaked on Thursday and the highest selling piece of music was The Very Best of Prince with 258,000 copies sold. Next in line was the Purple Rain soundtrack with 147,000 copies sold. The most sold songs would be the expected top hits, such as “Purple Rain,” When Doves Cry,” “Little Red Corvette,” “Kiss” and “Let’s Go Crazy.”

RELATED: Reflections on Prince, the Icon, the Artist, the Purple One Forever

“The activity has been pretty intense,” says David Bakula, Nielsen Entertainment’s senior vice president of analytics. “The number is definitely going to be higher this week than it was last. It wouldn’t surprise me to see (Prince) stay up at the top for a very long time.”

“It’s really quite a tribute to what fans thought of Prince and how much they wanted to enjoy his music,” Bakula says. “The lack of a wide streaming availability has made these sales numbers greater than what anybody would have expected.”

 

Photo Courtesy: Twitter