XXXTentacion’s “SAD!” reached 1 billion views on YouTube this week.
The audio for his Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit featuring the ? album artwork — not the official music video that was released after his death — reached this milestone after premiering on the platform on March 1, 2018.
The rapper wrote and creative directed the music video for “SAD!,” which has racked up more than 140 million YouTube views since his posthumous release. The song reached the summit of the Hot 100 on June 29, 2018, shortly after he was fatally shot in Deerfield Beach, Fla., on June 18, 2018, at age 20. It had only reached No. 7 in his lifetime, while his sophomore LP ? hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and became his first chart-topper.
Music sales increased by 1,603% in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music, in the wake of his death. But his musical success was concurrent with persistent legal trouble. He was awaiting trial on more than a dozen felony charges and allegations of domestic violence against his then-pregnant girlfriend at the time of his death.
