R. Kelly Returns To Billboard Charts After "Surviving R. Kelly" Airs

BYAron A.Updated on September 26, 202212.4K Views

Singer R. Kelly attends the premiere of Chapters 13-22 of 'Trapped In The Closet' at the IFC Center, August 15, 2007 in New York City.

Despite allegations of sexual abuse, R. Kelly's die-hards are standing by his side.

It seems as if we're witnessing the demise in R. Kelly's career, but it looks like it's going to take more than a docuseries to knock him off the charts. According to Billboard, two of the singer's biggest hits to date have made returned to the charts following the airing of Lifetime's docuseries.

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

"Ignition" and "I Believe I Can Fly" are back on Billboard's R&B Digital Song Sales chart after Lifetime's six-part docuseries Surviving R. Kelly aired at the beginning of the month. "Ignition" is currently sitting at #12 on the R&B Digital Song Sales chart with a spike of 191% in week-over-week purchases. According to Nielsen Music, the singer sold 2000 downloads in the week ending on Jan 10th. It's the best the song has performed in nearly 2 years since moving 2000 units in the week ending on Jan. 12, 2017. "Ignition" also brought in 3.1M U.S. on-demand streams in the week ending on Jan. 10th.

"I Believe I Can Fly" debuted at no. 16 on the R&B Digital Song Sales with 2000 copies sold as well which is the highest it's charted since Feb. 25th, 2016. The increase in streams for both songs helped The Essential R. Kelly project re-enter the Top R&B albums chart at no. 19. Additionally, it also debuted on the Billboard 200 at no. 144 and at no. 46 on the Top Catalog Albums.

Earlier today, it was revealed that Sony had dropped R. Kelly from their label following the numerous protests and allegations stemming from Surviving R. Kelly.

About The Author

Aron A.

Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.