Babyface & Teddy Riley's Streams Double After "Verzuz" IG Live Battle

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Babyface Teddy Riley Verzuz Instagram live battle streams songs double increase
Babyface and Teddy Riley both saw a major increase in streams of the songs they played during their recent "Verzuz" Instagram live battle.

Babyface and Teddy Riley's "Verzuz" battle via Instagram live on Monday (April 20th) managed to turn into a big success after several delays, and even led both artists to experiencing a major surge in streams afterward. The legendary producers finally had the chance to face-off over IG live on Monday after multiple postponements had begun putting a damper on the whole affair. It was all worth the trouble, though, especially considering how much traffic the battle brought to both Babyface and Teddy's streaming numbers.

Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET

According to Nielsen Music/MRC Data reports, all 49 tracks used in the battle combined garnered 3 million on-demand audio streams in the U.S. the day after the live event took place (April 21st). This is a massive increase from day prior, which only recorded 1.4 million cumulative streams, meaning Face and Teddy's collective numbers saw a 115% surge within the span of one day.

Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for ESSENCE

The battle track that garnered the most streams on the 21st was the Babyface-produced "Can We Talk" by Tevin Campbell, with 232,000 on-demand audio streams, a 110% increase from the 110,000 streams the day before. During the battle, Tevin tweeted that "'Can We Talk' is a song about stalking but it works every time," which may have had something to do with the increased interest in streaming the song.

The next two tracks that received the highest number of streams were Blackstreet’s “No Diggity,” featuring Dr. Dre with 173,000, and SWV’s “Right Here/Human Nature” with 128,000, both produced by Teddy. Two Boyz II Men songs produced by Babyface completed the Top 5: “I’ll Make Love to You” with 101,000 and “End of the Road” with 100,000. With these numbers, it's becoming more and more clear the discernible impact that the "Verzuz" series is having on the music industry.


About The Author
<b>Staff Writer</b> <!--BR--> Originally from Vancouver, Lynn Sharpe is a Montreal-based writer for HNHH. She graduated from Concordia University where she contributed to her campus for two years, often producing pieces on music, film, television, and pop culture at large. She enjoys exploring and analyzing the complexities of music through the written word, particularly hip-hop. As a certified Barb since 2009, she has always had an inclination towards female rap.
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