LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 04: Recording artist Liam Payne of music group One Direction performs … [+]
The world is still mourning the loss of Liam Payne, one of the five members of One Direction. The singer died earlier this month after a fall from his hotel balcony in Argentina. As is usually the case whenever a beloved musician passes, fans of the singer—especially those in his home country of the U.K.—have returned to some of his biggest hits, helping him posthumously reappear on the charts.
Among all of his comebacks, Payne’s “Teardrops” is the top performer. That song, which comes with an all-too-appropriate title—nearly becomes a top 40 hit once again on the Official Singles Sales chart, where it lands at No. 41 this time around. That’s a new peak for the smash.
“Teardrops” ended up being Payne’s final single, as he released it just months before his death. The song rises slightly higher on the Official Singles Downloads chart than on the sales list. On the former tally, the singer’s most recent cut is back at No. 39. That’s also a new all-time high for the composition.
“For You (Fifty Shades Freed)” is also back on a pair of charts in the U.K. this week. Payne’s duet with Rita Ora, which was recorded for the Fifty Shades of Grey film franchise, enters the downloads list at No. 76, and the sales-focused roster at No. 79.
One more track by the former One Direction boy bander hits just one tally. “Sunshine” can be found at No. 67 on the Official Physical Singles chart, which is all about the top-performing tunes exclusively on some physical format, like vinyl or CD.
Payne only released one album on his own, LP1. The full-length dropped half a decade ago, and it wasn’t the commercial win that the singer had hoped for, or the kind that some of his bandmates had managed to produce.
Following his death, both Payne and One Direction dominated iTunes charts all around the world. As the soloist reaches a number of charts, the boy band’s smashes and even some of their albums rise on a handful of tallies in the U.K., where he was still a massive celebrity up to the end of his life.