Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades” is one of the best rock and roll songs of all time. The title track of the band’s 1980 album is like the “Stairway to Heaven” or “Free Bird” of metal and punk. But despite the song’s enduring popularity, it’s never charted – until now. Billboard reports that in the wake of Lemmy’s Kilmister’s death, the song has made it’s first appearance on multiple charts. Spurred by the his December 28th passing, “Ace of Spades” debuts at No. 12 on Billboard‘s Hot Rock Songs chart. The magazine reports that much of that activity comes from streaming, as the song got 1.8 million streams in the US for the week ending December 31, which was up 1.096% from the 149,000 that it got the previous week.
As a result of the increased streams, “Ace of Spades” also enters the Rock Streaming Songs chart at No. 24. People were downloading the track too, with 8,000 downloads landing it at No. 8 on the Hard Rock Digital Songs chart. Their most recent album, Bad Magic rebounds as well, re-entering the Hard Rock Albums chart at No. 11 with 2,000 copies sold. The album is also No. 2 at CMJ’s Loud Rock chart. Billboard notes that perhaps one of the main reasons “Ace of Spades” is landing on these charts for the first time is that Hot Rock Songs, Hard Rock Digital Songs and Rock Streaming Songs don’t date back particularly far, with the oldest of those launching in 2009. It’s a shame that this is the way the song has to get the most exposure it’s gotten to date, but at least it shows that some people are honoring Lemmy in the best way possible, hopefully with a Jack and Coke as well.
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