Radio Play, Sales of Donna Summer Records Sharply Increase Just Days After Death

Presently, nearly half of Donna Summer’s back catalog is unavailable physically and digitally. But, that isn’t stopping consumers from buying her records or radio DJs from playing her singles. In fact, Billboard reports, sales and play of Summer’s music increased significantly just days after her death on May 17.

Although no actual figures have been reported, sales from her greatest hits albums and remix collection are expected to total between 20,000 and 40,000 by the end of this week. While the late singer has seven greatest hits records, the two predicted to bring in the most sales are 2003’s The Journey: The Very Best of Donna Summer and 1979’s On The Radio – Greatest Hits Volumes I & II.

Summer released recordings on multiple labels, including Casablanca Records in the early part of her career, Geffen Records in the 1980s, and Atlantic Records in the late 1980s and 1990s. Her last studio release was 2008’s Crayons, which is available both physically and digitally. For the rest of her back catalog, however, her Casablanca releases, such as 1975’s Love to Love You Baby, can be found digitally but not physically. Her Geffen and Atlantic records, including The Wanderer, Donna Summer, Cats Without Claws, All Systems Go, I'm a Rainbow, Another Place and Time, and Mistaken Identity, can neither be found digitally nor physically.

Radio stations drastically upped play of Summer’s songs the day after her death. The day before, her songs received just 145 plays on U.S. terrestrial radio stations monitored by Nielsen BDS. The day after, that figure increased to 2,015, with “Last Dance” played 408 times, “She Works Hard For the Money” 290 times, and “Bad Girls” 298 times.