R.E.M.'s classic lands at No. 4 on the LyricFind U.S. chart.
As the world adjusts to life in self-quarantine while the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has continued to spread, many familiar songs about the world ending, or, reversely, humans surviving, have surged in sales and streams.
In the tracking week ending March 12, R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" skyrocketed 184% to 1,000 downloads sold and 48% in on-demand U.S. streams to 746,000, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.
The song peaked at No. 16 on Mainstream Rock Songs in 1987 and No. 69 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988.
"World" also re-enters LyricFind's U.S. ranking at No. 4. The LyricFind U.S. and LyricFind Global charts, whose latest tracking week ran March 9-15, rank the fastest-momentum-gaining tracks in lyric-search queries and usages in the U.S. and globally, respectively, provided by LyricFind.
That's not all: R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" rose 33% in digital song sales and 2% to 290,000 streams, and "Losing My Religion" gained 11% in sales.
While some of the songs below gain for obvious reasons, such as The Minutemen's "Corona" and Shwayze's "Corona and Lime," others increase sparked by viral hand-washing challenges. Gloria Gaynor jumped on the trend with the #iwillsurvivechallenge.
As the CDC urges people to wash their hands for a full 20 seconds, Gaynor sings the chorus of her former No. 1 track for 20 seconds while washing her hands.
null
READ MORE
Gloria Gaynor 'Will Survive' Coronavirus With This New TikTok Challenge
"My Sharona" also see notable sales and streaming gains, since "Sharona" rhymes with "Corona." The uptick even translated to "Weird Al" Yankovic's parody of the song, "My Bologna," which concurrently sees a 16% gain in streams.
Here's a look at some other virus-related songs that have gained in sales and streaming over the past week:
The Knack, "My Sharona"
Up 43% in digital song sales to 1,000
Up 18% in total on-demand U.S. streams to 876,000
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "My Bologna"
Up 16% in total on-demand U.S. streams to 16,000
Gloria Gaynor, "I Will Survive"
Up 22% in digital song sales to 1,000
Up 3% in on-demand U.S. audio streams to 678,000
Joy Division, "Isolation"
Up 50% in digital song sales
Up 7% in total on-demand U.S. streams to 27,000
The Minutemen, "Corona"
Up 70% in digital song sales
Up 26% in total on-demand U.S. streams to 63,000
Disturbed, "Down With the Sickness"
Up 10% in digital song sales to 1,000
Up 1% in total on-demand U.S. streams to 2.6 million
Bad Religion, "Infected"
Up 4% in total on-demand U.S. streams to 63,000
Shwayze, "Corona and Lime"
Up 12% in total on-demand U.S. streams to 117,000