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.
"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.