YG’s ‘FDT’ Up 740% in Sales After Joe Biden Elected President, Other Songs See Major Gains
YG’s “FDT,” featuring Nipsey Hussle, leads a variety of songs that saw major digital sales gains in the U.S. on Nov. 7, the day Joe Biden was projected as the president-elect of the United…
YG’s “FDT,” featuring Nipsey Hussle, leads a variety of songs that saw major digital sales gains in the U.S. on Nov. 7, the day Joe Biden was projected as the president-elect of the United States.
On Nov. 7, “FDT” (which stands for “F–k Donald Trump”) was downloaded 3,000 times, according to initial sales reports to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, a 740% gain over the song’s sales count on Nov. 6.
The sales boosts of “FDT” actually began on Nov. 3, the day of the presidential election, the results of which were drawn out over multiple days due to the closeness of the vote tallies between Biden and President Donald Trump in a variety of states. In the four days preceding Nov. 7 (Nov. 3-6), the song scored 2,000 downloads, up 233% from the previous four-day period (Oct. 30-Nov. 2).
Conversely, Bryson Gray’s “Trump Is Your President,” politically a polar opposite of YG’s “FDT,” scored 1,000 downloads on Nov. 3 and had moved 2,000 from Oct. 30-Nov. 2. However, the song’s sales dropped 79% between Nov. 3 and Nov. 4 (the day after the election) and have generally decreased further since.
Other big winners on Nov. 7 include Mary J. Blige’s “Work That” (2,000 downloads) and Coldplay’s “A Sky Full of Stars” (1,000), up 5,642% and 5,353% over Nov. 6, respectively. Both songs’ gains followed their usage during Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ victory speech in Delaware Nov. 7.
Kygo and Whitney Houston’s “Higher Love” (1,000 downloads, up 1,011%), Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” (1,000, up 996%), Daryl Hall & John Oates’ “You Make My Dreams” (1,000, up 841%) and Tina Turner’s “The Best” (1,000, up 548%) also saw gains following the speech.
Elsewhere, songs with sizable sales gains on Nov. 7 due to their celebratory nature: Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration” (1,000, up 691%), Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” (1,000, up 810%), Steam’s “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” (1,000, up 421%) and Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” (1,000, up 114%).
Further sales figures will be reflected on the Billboard charts dated Nov. 21, while early streaming figures for Nov. 7 are also forthcoming.