According to Billboard, RUSH song streams surged by 776% while sales grew by more than 2,000% in the U.S. in the days following the death of drummer Neil Peart.
Between January 10 and January 13, on-demand audio and video streams of RUSH's catalog increased to a combined 24.54 million. The band's 1981 classic "Tom Sawyer" was the most streamed song during the period, with 2.8 million listens, compared to the 698,000 streams it registered between January 6 and January 9. Song sales were at 19,000 compared to 1,000 in the previous three days, with album sales increasing 1,820% to 6,000.
Elsewhere, RUSH songs took up 23 of the 25 positions on Billboard's LyricFind U.S. and LyricFind Global charts dated January 18. 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. Once again, "Tom Sawyer" was the most popular song on the Global chart, followed by "Limelight" (No. 2), "The Trees" (No. 3), "The Temples Of Syrinx" (No. 4), "Losing It" (No. 5) and "The Garden" (No. 6).
RUSH's final show took place at the Forum in Los Angeles on August 1, 2015. Peart indicated at the time that he wanted to retire while he was still able to play well, along with a desire to spend more time at home with his young daughter.
Peart died on January 7 at the age of 67 from an aggressive form of brain cancer that he battled for more than three years. The band announced his passing on January 10, setting off shockwaves and an outpouring of grief from fans and musicians all over the world.