Improbable Game 4 win had New Yorkers celebrating with Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ 2009 single
The Knicks’ historic comeback victory Wednesday had New Yorkers flocking to their streaming services to celebrate with Big Apple-centric songs.
According to Spotify, Knicks fans’ go-to anthem after the improbable Game 4 win was Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind,” with the 2009 single experiencing a 1,245 percent bump in streaming among New York City users following the Knicks’ victory.
The most popular song among Spotify-using Knicks fans remains, appropriately, the extremely regional Nineties classic “Go NY Go” by Jesse Itzler, which has jumped 2,700 percent since the start of the Knicks’ Finals run. Ja Rule, Fat Joe, and Jadakiss’ “New York” and Frank Sinatra’s “Theme From New York, New York” have also witnessed streaming bumps on the Knicks’ path to their first title since 1973.
Speaking of the aforementioned 1973, Spotify also shared its streaming data for the most popular songs from that year on their platform, with New York icon, Knicks fan, and Madison Square Garden resident artist Billy Joel leading the way with “Piano Man”; it’s unclear (but highly likely) whether the singer’s classic “New York State of Mind” also enjoyed a bump from the Knicks’ title run.
Recent streaming data for the Wu-Tang Clan, whose Game 4 halftime performance was perhaps the catalyst for the Knicks’ incredible 29-point come-from-behind victory, was not known at press time.
