“Breaking Bad” protagonist Walter White is dead — but the Badfinger song “Baby Blue” has risen from the grave, thanks to its prominent placement in the “Breaking Bad” finale on Sunday.
Nielsen SoundScan data reveals that digital song sales for “Baby Blue” — which played as White’s last moments on earth occurred at the end of the finale — jumped 2,981 percent over the previous week.
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The song, included on Badfinger’s 1971 album “Straight Up” and released as a single the following year,logged 5,300 sales in the last few hours of Sunday night, versus 200 sales the prior week.
The “Breaking Bad” bump also had a ripple effect on the group’s catalog; the song “Day After Day” was up 134 percent, while “No Matter What” jumped 78 percent, “Come and Get It” surged 81 percent and “Without You” climbed 260 percent.
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“Baby Blue” also received a huge bump on U.S. terrestrial radio stations, with a 1,175 percent jump on Monday over the previous Monday.
On the streaming front, services including Rhapsody, Rdio, Spotify, AOL Radio and Xbox Music reported 44,000 streams on Monday — a 20,000 percent jump over the 200 streams that the song received on Sunday.
Marty Robbins’ “El Paso,” also featured in the “Breaking Bad” finale, experienced a more modest bump, enjoying an 81 percent rise in digital sales over the prior week, with 950 sales logged.