For the first time ever in the song's history, Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" has reached the Billboard Hot 100 chart in light of the legendary artist's passing the week before.
The iconic single, which originally appeared on Cohen's 1984 album Various Positions, debuted at No. 59 this week after being streamed 3.8 million times and downloaded 33,000 times. Various Positions also returned to Billboard 200's Top 10 this week at No. 7.
According to Billboard, covers of "Hallelujah" are also climbing the chart, with Pentatonix's version performing better than that of Cohen's debuting at No. 32, Jeff Buckley's appearing at No. 10, and Rufus Wainwright at No. 16.
On November 10, a post on Leonard Cohen's official Facebook page confirmed legendary singer-songwriter passing at the age of 82. Mourning the loss of "one of music’s most revered and prolific visionaries," the post also asked for his family's privacy during this difficult time.
In honor of his passing, Kate McKinnon performed an emotional rendition of "Hallelujah" for that week's Saturday Night Live cold opening as Hillary Clinton. At the end of her performance, McKinnon looked into the camera and said, "I'm not giving up, and neither should you."
