LIFE AFTER DEATH ON THE CHARTS
IN THE PAST YEAR, hip-hop lost two of its brightest young stars: Juice WRLD, a prodigiously talented melodist, died of a drug overdose in Chicago’s Midway Airport last fall, and Pop Smoke, Brooklyn’s deep-voiced center of charisma, was murdered last winter in a botched home robbery in L.A. Both tragedies left behind mourning fans, a host of questions (many of which are still left unanswered), and unfinished music. Juice WRLD and Pop Smoke were famously productive, recording music at a pace that matched the rapid-fire release cycles of the streaming era. “He has hundreds of songs and thousands of verses and ideas,” BMG A&R exec Raj Jadeja said of Juice WRLD, not long after the rapper’s death. “The last time I remember checking in, I think it was around 1,200.” Juice WRLD’s and Pop Smoke’s sudden deaths left their fans wanting to hear more; Pop Smoke never got to play a concert in his hometown or release his debut album before he was murdered. Now, both artists have become part of the longtime music-industry tradition of posthumous releases from artists who die young.
If there was any question that both of them were on their way to top-tier stardom, it’s been answered by the masses who flocked to hear these latest releases. Juice WRLD and Pop Smoke take Number One and Two, respectively, on our list of the most-streamed artists in July, after their albums — Pop Smoke’s Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon and Juice WRLD’s Legends Never Die — each debuted at Number One on the Rolling Stone Top 200 Albums chart. Combined, their music saw nearly 1.5 billion streams in July alone. The number of listeners for both rappers show that they left an enormous mark on millions of fans, but they also suggest a haunting question: What could have been?