News & Jukebox Chart

Digital jukebox tributes to Houston

We were all saddened to hear about the death of musical legend Whitney Houston last week. Houston, who passed away last weekend, was one of the greatest musical talents to come out of America; her path-finding career saw her become the most-awarded female artist of all time. Furthermore, she’s been said to have been the inspiration for the careers of Leona Lewis, Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga.

Houston’s discography includes a number of iconic tracks and since her death in Los Angeles on Sunday, sales of the singer’s albums have rocketed on both sides of the Atlantic. Whitney – The Greatest Hits is currently paced at two in the US iTunes chart, while in the UK, Whitney Houston – The Ultimate Collection is currently second in the British equivalent. What’s more, across the country her hits have been selected by Soundnet jukebox customers; her music has provided the digital jukebox music in pubs, restaurants and bars throughout the week.

Since Houston’s death, we’ve seen Whitney Houston overtake The Beatles as the most-played artist in the past week, doubling the number of plays of the classic Liverpudian band. The three most popular songs from Houston’s collection are ‘I will always love you’, ‘I wanna dance with somebody’ and ‘One moment in time.’

Soundnet’s Toby Hoyte said:

“From a customer profile perspective, it is interesting that the sudden increase in Whitney Houston plays demonstrates that a good digital jukebox caters not only for the younger crowd but for also the older generation, as most of these plays will have come from older customers.

“Opweb is a breakthrough on all levels as it enables us to monitor customers’ preferences in real time and operators to remotely configure their jukeboxes accordingly. High tech systems combined with our specialised experience keep us at the forefront of the industry, instantly providing the music that customers want to hear.”

In order to enable operators to cater for the increase in demand for Houston’s song, we’ll be sending all digital jukebox subscribers a free 20-track ‘Tribute to Whitney’ playlist to all Milestones in Music and VHub jukeboxes.

Tagged in: Music News