XXXTentacion was inarguably a rising star at the time of his tragic and sudden death, and as unfortunate as it may be, death is a guaranteed way to amplify an artist’s reach.
The late rapper was already part of an elite group of artists to have reached a billion streams with one of their tracks on Spotify, but now XXXTentacion has added a total of four songs to that list. According to Chart Data, X’s 2018 song “Changes” surpassed a billion streams this week, joining the songs “SAD”, “Jocelyn Flores”, and “Moonlight” on the list of X songs to hit this impressive milestone.
Even more impressive, XXXTentacion is the first hip hop artist to have four songs receive this Spotify accolade. “Changes” is an emotional track produced by John Cunningham and featuring vocals by PnB Rock. The song went three times platinum in September of 2020 and its popularity has only grown from there. Despite his untimely death, X’s music has continued to earn fans and recognition, and his memory is being preserved by hip hop fans all over the world.
Last month, the young rapper was memorialized at the Rolling Loud Miami concert alongside other fallen artists including Pop Smoke, Nipsey Hussle, Lil Peep, and Juice WRLD.
While some would argue that the world of hip hop has always been a dangerous game to get into, the last few years has seen an unprecedented amount of rappers lose their lives to drugs and gun violence. Born Jahsef Onfroy, XXXTentacion was murdered during an armed robbery when he was shot outside a motorcycle store in Florida in June of 2018. Although he was still in the early days of his career, he was commonly named as an artist to watch because of his unique artistic style and alternative edge that many people felt was going to change the face of the genre.
XXXTENTACION's "changes" has now surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify. It’s his fourth song to reach this milestone.
— chart data (@chartdata) August 3, 2021
A tribute to #NipseyHussle #LilPeep #XXXTentacion #JuiceWRLD #PopSmoke is posted up near the entrance @RollingLoud pic.twitter.com/ihZyuO9wS7
— Tony M. Centeno ??? (@_tonyMC) July 23, 2021
