We can’t say that Solange Knowles planned that now-famous elevator attack on brother-in-law Jay Z earlier this month, but we can say that all publicity is good publicity: Since the dustup, people are buying more of Knowles’ music online.
According to website hiphopdx, which obtained reports from Nielsen SoundScan, Solange’s sales rose from 600 to 2,000 the week ending May 18. We don’t know which actual songs sold the most, but folks clearly had the 27-year-old on the brain after surveillance footage leaked of Beyoncé’s sister trying to attack Jay Z in an elevator after the Met Ball.
Of course, this makes perfect sense. It’s a safe bet to assume a large part of the population wasn’t familiar with the younger Knowles’ music—certainly more niche than sister Beyoncé—and the boost in sales was probably prompted by curiosity.
Solange never managed to find mainstream success like her sister. According to Nielsen Soundscan, her debut album, Solo Star, sold 112,000 copies and fell off the chart five weeks after it debuted. Her second full-length record, Sol-Angel and the Hadley St Dreams in 2008, was her first US top 10 album, though didn’t produce any radio hits.