Bee Gees Album Sales Soar in the Wake of Robin Gibb’s Death

How can you mend a broken heart? If you’re a Bee Gees fan, it’s by picking up the band’s albums in tribute to late singing sibling Robin Gibb.

That was apparently the idea of many of the band’s fans who’ve helped catapult the Bee Gees catalog to sale heights it hasn’t seen in years. Billboard reports that following Gibb’s death on May 20, Nielsen SoundScan reported a 339 percent jump in overall sale. Putting that in more clear terms, that meant the band jumped from 6,000 albums sold the week of May 20 to 27,000 albums sold this past week.

The best selling album of the bunch was ‘The Ultimate Bee Gees’ hits collection, which actually re-entered the Billboard 200 Album chart at No. 49 with 9,000 copies sold. That was up 291 percent from the week prior. The ‘Number Ones’ album also did well, jumping back onto the chart at No. 70, while the ‘Saturday Night Fever’ soundtrack was their third returning album, placing at No. 168.

And while digital recordings weren’t the big thing during their heyday, the Bee Gees reportedly sold over 102,000 digital song downloads last week. ‘Stayin’ Alive’ (14,000) and ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ (11,000) were the two biggest sellers.