Donna Summer, Lynyrd Skynyrd songs get chart boost from the winter Olympics

Music News Group2 hours ago

49 1 minute read

Donna Summer performs onstage at the Poplar Creek Music Theater, Hoffman Estates, Illinois, July 12, 1983. (Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images)

Donna Summer’s classic track “MacArthur Park” has returned to the Billboard charts thanks to the winter Olympics.

The song was used by American figure skater Alysa Liu for her long program when she won the gold medal. Thanks to the exposure, the song has landed at #1 on the Dance Digital Song Sales chart, up 575% in sales, with 2,000 downloads sold between Feb. 20-26.

The original 1978 track, which appeared on Summer’s album Live and More, spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified double Platinum by the RIAA.

In 2013, following Summer’s 2012 death, a remix of the song retuned to the chart, hitting #1 on the former Dance Club Songs chart.

Another song getting a boost from the Olympics is Lynyrd Skynyrd’s classic “Free Bird.”

After the song became the unofficial anthem for the U.S. men’s and women’s hockey teams, it has hit #15 on the Rock & Alternative Songs chart, #1 on the Rock Digital Song Sales chart and #6 on the Digital Song Sales chart.