Oscar-Winning Song ‘Naatu Naatu’ Posts 260% Streaming Gain in U

Boosted by its high-energy performance on the Academy Awards on Sunday (March 12), best original song winner “Naatu Naatu” scored a 260% increase in on-demand official streams in the United States, according to initial reports to data tracking firm Luminate (whose information powers Billboard’s weekly charts).

On March 12 and 13 combined, “Naatu Naatu,” performed by vocalists Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava, garnered 176,000 official on-demand streams in the U.S. – up 260% from the 49,000 that the track collected in the two previous days (March 10 and 11).

In terms of digital song sales, the song sold a little over 1,000 on March 12-13 – up from a negligible sum in the two days prior.

The best original song Oscar is awarded to the writers of the song. “Naatu Naatu” was written by M.M. Keeravaani and Chandrabose, who both accepted the Oscar onstage during the live ABC-TV broadcast.

“Naatu Naatu” had the third-most streams of the five nominees for original song, all of which were performed on the Oscars, which aired live on ABC. Here’s a recap of the other four nominees and their streams on March 12-13, versus March 10-11: Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” (1.447 million vs. 1.446 million; up less than 1%), Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand” (580,000 vs. 389,000; up 49%), “This Is a Life” (84,000 vs. 38,000; up 121%) and Sofia Carson’s “Applause” (37,000 vs. 5,000; up 593%).

In addition, Lenny Kravitz’s “Calling All Angels,” which he performed for the In Memoriam portion of the broadcast, collected 35,000 streams on March 12-13 – a gain of 3,449% compared to the 1,000 streams that it garnered on March 10-11.

Collectively, the six performances helped generate 2.359 million on-demand official streams in the U.S. on March 12-13 – a gain of 22% compared to the 1.929 million on March 10-11.

News of further significant streaming and sales gains will be reported in the coming days on Billboard.com. Streaming, sales and airplay activity generated in the week ending March 16 will be reflected on the weekly Billboard charts dated March 25.

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