Joe Diffie Sees Career Best Chart Performance After Passing
Country music seems to have been hit disproportionately hard when it comes to deaths and illnesses due to COVID-19, with the passing of Joe Diffie being one of the first big losses in music entertainment early in the pandemic. Combined with the recent passing of John Prine, and the non-Coronavirus deaths of Kenny Rogers and Jan Howard, it’s been a very hard few weeks in the country realm.
But if there was any silver lining, it’s that the signs are clear that fans are celebrating and remembering these important country music icons by purchasing, downloading, and streaming their music. Similar to Kenny Rogers seeing a spike in his sales after his passing, Joe Diffie has enjoyed similar attention as fans mourned the singer and songwriter’s death on March 29th at 61-years-old.
Joe Diffie’s 16 Biggest Hits currently sits at #4 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, as well as #38 on the all genre Billboard 200. Surprisingly, this is Diffie’s best showing of his career. Previously, his best rank on the Country Albums chart was #6 for his well-known 1994 album Third Rock from the Sun. The album also came in at #54 on the Billboard 200. This means Joe Diffie just scored his first Top 5 country album, and first Top 40 all genre album.
16 Biggest Hits also came in at #17 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart. The album logged 4,300 albums in physical sales, and songs from the collection received over 7.8 millions streams, giving the title nearly 15,000 in equivalent sales. But understand, since this is a compilation, these numbers are a little misleading. Since Joe Diffie has a total of six Greatest Hits albums out there, tracks on other compilations were also receiving spins, parsing Diffie’s performance on the charts. For example, his 2009 album The Ultimate Collection also came in at #81 on the Billboard 200.
As far as downloads go, Joe Diffie dominated this week’s Country Digital Song Sales chart. “John Deere Green” was #2 on the chart this week (#13 all genre), “Pick Up Man” was #5 (#19 all genre), “Prop Me Up Beside The Jukebox (If I Die)” was #7 (#25 all genre), “Third Rock From The Sun” was #17, and “Ships That Don’t Come In” was #23.
Though Joe Diffie is regarded by some as a product of his time in the early 90’s, his music has proven to have lasting power, and fans gave him a proper send off by putting his music in the charts once again.
April 10, 2020 @ 8:52 am
“Funny when you’re dead how people start listening”
April 11, 2020 @ 6:04 pm
Nashville is tough on the living/ but she really speaks well of the dead.
–SS
April 10, 2020 @ 9:00 am
“My footsteps carried me away, but in my mind I’m always going home.”
Always loved that one❤️
April 10, 2020 @ 9:30 am
Hopefully any dividends end up with the Diffie family and not in the pocket of the music companies. I’m sure John Prine will see a huge spike in sales this coming week also. I’ve already spoken to a couple friends who probably only know 2 or 3 Prine songs at most carrying on like they were his biggest fans.
April 10, 2020 @ 6:08 pm
I always loved him…
Great memories. ❤????❤
April 10, 2020 @ 8:08 pm
Dan,
That probably applies to some country artist as well. When dead, they all come out of the woodwork with accolades and acting like the recent deceased was special only to them. I believe it in some, others I do not.
April 10, 2020 @ 9:48 am
Nashville is hell on the living. But,they praise the dead.
I know I got the quote wrong. Butchu git the jest
April 10, 2020 @ 12:21 pm
You were awfully close. It’s “Rough on the Living” by Shel Silverstein and sung by the great Bobby Bare (who just turned 85!).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ffEHDzJHXU
April 11, 2020 @ 6:08 pm
I posted that without seeing that you did first.
The version I heard was on the “Old Dogs” CD–Bare, Jerry Reed, Tillis and Waylon.
April 10, 2020 @ 10:32 am
This is not meant to start any discussion or derail the purpose of this article. This is just a question for Trigger, as he has access to sources that might be able to answer this question. I understand it can take weeks to determine whether someone died with or from COVID. Do you know if it has been ruled the cause of death in this case?
Again, this is just a simple question, not meant to start a thread that would derail the sentiment expressed in remembering Joe.
Thanks
April 10, 2020 @ 12:34 pm
Joe Diffie’s official cause of death was labeled “complications due to COVID-19,” which implies his contraction of the virus exacerbated underlying health conditions, which is what happens for the vast majority of people who die from the disease. Nobody dies from the Coronavirus, just like nobody dies from AIDS. They usually die due to some other result, usually the pneumonia that develops that makes them unable to breathe. Joe Diffie was overweight, and for all we know, had emphysema or some other condition that made him especially susceptible to the disease. Ray Benson was eight years older than Diffie, and just received a clean bill of health.
April 10, 2020 @ 1:52 pm
Thanks for the reply. I don’t think you fully understood my question – or I didn’t phrase it correctly, but that’s ok, I don’t want to derail the conversation and appreciation of Joe.
Good news about Ray, thanks for sharing.
April 10, 2020 @ 2:25 pm
Maybe I don’t understand the question. I mean, I’m guessing if they say he died due to “complications from COVID-19,” he had at least been tested for the disease and came back positive. And if he died due to respiratory illness, that was probably the cause. There is an autopsy or at least a cause given for every death, and these are kept in the public record. I could make a records request for his autopsy or death certificate, but I just don’t really have any reason to believe we’re being mislead here.
April 10, 2020 @ 2:59 pm
Joe actually had diabetes, which was the underlying condition. (This was corroborated by speaking with his mother-in-law.)
April 10, 2020 @ 3:43 pm
…”Nobody dies from the Coronavirus…They usually die due to some other result”…
Trigger,
Is that really true? I’m asking because that is one of the lines that many conspiracy theorists are using. They say nobody who was in perfect health has died of Covid yet. I’m not sure what to believe.
April 10, 2020 @ 8:46 pm
The virus itself doesn’t kill you, it’s the over reaction to a weakened immune system that should be able to fight off the virus but instead attacks itself. Your body is filled with as many as 13 trillion viruses and the innate and interferon immune systems fight them off without even knowing you have a virus, but if you’re unhealthy, overweight, pre existing conditions, smoker ect that weakens the immune system. Also as you age your thyroid stops producing the hormone vitamin a, and that’s your first defence against things like corona… you should check out a guy named Shiva Ayyadurai for more info on how to stay healthy…
April 10, 2020 @ 8:50 pm
Also for anyone who feels like starting an internet fight about what I have said, don’t bother, I am not a doctor and don’t claim to be, facts are facts, vitamin a, c and d are your best defence for a healthy immune system, and this doesn’t just relate to covid, it’s everything, colds flus ect. Being healthy and living right is what we all should be doing.
April 12, 2020 @ 7:06 am
From CDC a few days ago, covering March corona admissions (though a small sample of 180):
“89.3% had one or more underlying conditions. The most commonly reported were hypertension (49.7%), obesity (48.3%), chronic lung disease (34.6%), diabetes mellitus (28.3%), and cardiovascular disease (27.8%). Among patients aged 18–49 years, obesity was the most prevalent underlying condition, followed by chronic lung disease (primarily asthma) and diabetes mellitus…”
April 10, 2020 @ 10:38 am
Been listening to Joe quite a bit lately and songs like Ain’t That Bad Enough, Coolest Fool in Town and Somewhere Under the Rainbow etc are really good/great songs and show how great of a singer he truly was.
April 10, 2020 @ 3:43 pm
A couple of days before his death his (PR?) had stated that he was suffering from Covid-19.
April 10, 2020 @ 11:31 am
I just became a huge fan this past November on the Carolina country music cruise!!! Before the cruise I downloaded all his music and couldn’t believe all the songs I knew but didn’t know Joe Diffie was the artist….Joe Diffie and Craig Morgan were my Favorite artist on the Cruise…. Rest In Peace my friend♥️
April 10, 2020 @ 1:10 pm
I just hope that somebody had the wherewithal to prop him up beside the jukebox per his wishes. Remember, he likes blondes.
April 10, 2020 @ 2:02 pm
Somethin’ Women Like About A Pickup Man- to which I can personally attest.
April 10, 2020 @ 2:04 pm
I’m going to stop posting. All but one of my comments of the last 4 or 5 don’t post until later- and I could care less why or who. This is MY last one.
April 10, 2020 @ 2:17 pm
Hey DJ,
Sorry if you’re having issues commenting. I’m seeing the last comment you left here, two comments you left yesterday, and I just checked both the spam filter and trash folder to make sure nothing got inadvertently deleted, and I’m not seeing anything.
April 11, 2020 @ 4:47 am
The same thing often happens to me. Not my field but I think it has something to do with cache.I often need to refresh my browser several times to see my comment… sometimes I even need to load a different page and come back. Or, for example, the front page will say there are 5 comments, but when clicking in there are only 2. Need to go through the same above process to see the 5 comments. Just FYI
April 11, 2020 @ 7:49 am
See what Jake said, then read what I wrote- same thing but less eloquently! LATER- is what I am griping about and I will NOT wait around to see IF it posts at all- I come here several times a day, one in five or so comments in the last several times is delayed and I don’t care about cache or whatever. It doesn’t happen on other places I comment.
April 11, 2020 @ 9:45 am
DJ,
I apologize if it is taking a while to see your comments. I will look into it. The site does use “caching,” which not to get too technical, is essential with a site that receives lots of traffic, and especially if there are spikes in traffic. This can at times delay the appearance of updates, including comments. But I can assure you all of your comments are posting, and are not either being deleted, or purposely delayed. If you think you’re experiencing a delay, you can always use your browser’s “refresh” button which should circumvent caching and show you the most up-to-date version of a web page.
Please understand, Saving Country Music is not run by some big corporation, nor is there a parent company. It’s literally just me running this thing from my house, including day to day technical operations.
April 11, 2020 @ 10:30 am
Yep, & you do a great job putting up with all our shi* Trigger!
Happy Easter weekend everybody!
Going to make some homemade chocolate chip cookies, take them over to my cousins, & see how much trouble we can get into with some off the road vehicle’s.
????
April 11, 2020 @ 6:50 am
YO ….. DJ
April 11, 2020 @ 7:51 am
I just tried to reply to Trigger- guess what- it is delayed.
I LOVE the panhandle too.
April 10, 2020 @ 2:12 pm
Joe Diffie was the reason my first car was a pickup truck. I didn’t realize how hard his passing would hit me, but the longer it’s been the harder it is.
April 10, 2020 @ 2:18 pm
Stop DJ.
Don’t go.
Enjoy talking to you about the panhandle now & then.
Everyone is just a little cranky, currently
April 10, 2020 @ 3:00 pm
Joe diffie rest in peace great country music artist have always enjoyed his music he was still young his music will live on
April 10, 2020 @ 3:24 pm
He will be so greatly missed, his humbleness was amazing. We always felt his music was true
Talent and sadly under promoted. I hope he will be honored better at the next awards show, and
Not a pre-show. He was a friend who will leave a deep hole in our hearts.
April 10, 2020 @ 3:38 pm
I’ve never quite understood death-buying in music. Are people who didn’t know about Joe Diffie really buying his music?
People who already know about Joe surely already owned his music if they liked it.
April 10, 2020 @ 4:24 pm
In a lot of these cases it’s actually death streaming. People hear of someone passing, and pull up their music to remember them. The album sold 4,000 new copies last week. The week before, that same album sold 1 copy.
April 10, 2020 @ 6:09 pm
Love it….good times
April 11, 2020 @ 8:48 am
I met him in 97. He was such a sweet n kind person. Such a talented artist.I really enjoyed his music. He’s gonna be missed.RIP JOE…HIS DAUGHTER. KARA HAS A BEAUTIFUL. VOICE SHE INHERITED FROM HER FATHER. I HOPE SOMEONE SIGNS HER UP A RECORD DEAL. PRAYERS GO OUT TO HIS WIFE N FAMILY.
April 11, 2020 @ 6:16 pm
Most of these artists have kids who can sing. (Merle had several).
It takes more than that to make it.
April 10, 2020 @ 3:42 pm
I watched an interesting clip of Bobby Bare interviewing John Prine back in the day. It’s on youtube.
April 10, 2020 @ 4:55 pm
I’ll have to watch that because, I admit, I’m one of those people who doesn’t “get” John Prine. To me, he’s a guy who put out a couple of good folk-country albums in the early 1970s.
April 10, 2020 @ 8:19 pm
Lucky,
For me it was his writing. Never his singing. I think his writing was what endeared many to him, present party included.
April 10, 2020 @ 4:05 pm
Jazz and R&B have had some significant losses. More major artists anyway.
April 10, 2020 @ 4:51 pm
A spike in catalog album sales is a “silver lining” for a guy dying at 61 from a sudden disease?
I’ll give you a mulligan because anyone who writes nonstop like you do is going to hit a few awful slices.
BTW, Diffie had four straight Gold albums (including two Platinums) from 1992 to ’95. That only two of those albums went even top-10 is more a reflection of the highly competitive charts of that era and the dominance of the era’s megastars than of a lack of popularity for Diffie.
April 10, 2020 @ 7:24 pm
Been listening to Joe’s music nearly every day since hearing the news. In fact, I have his A Night To Remember album playing right now as I’m typing this. While I love seeing him doing so well on the charts, it’s just sad that it took him passing away for him to finally be recognized as he should’ve been all along when he was alive.
Besides the many great songs he’s had on the radio, he also has a lot of terrific album cuts that deserve to be more known. Besides “Coolest Fool In Town” and others mentioned above, I also love “There Goes The Neighborhood,” “I Just Don’t Know,” “You Made Me What I Am,” “I’m Not Through Losing You,” “If I Had Any Pride Left At All,” “And That Was The Easy Part,” “That Road Not Taken” (was a single, but it tanked) “From Here On Out,” “I’m The Only Thing I’ll Hold Against You,” “Better Off Gone,” and many others. Even “Coming Back To Me Now,” which is only heard on the TV version of Ace Ventura Pet Detective, is an excellent song.
What also makes me sad about Diffie’s passing is that not only was he very talented, but he really did seem like one of the most genuinely nice guys in the business who never let the fame go to his head. For the most part, he did just seem like a “regular Joe” through it all, and we could use more artists like that in the industry.
April 10, 2020 @ 9:44 pm
I am so happy to read this, and am a small contributor to those stats. Very few have a voice like Joe. He was also a solid songwriter. Indeed, a tough couple of weeks for country music, and the world. Great job as always.
April 10, 2020 @ 10:36 pm
Joe was one of those guys who was just outside the finish line when it came to accolades, if you will. The 90s were stacked with the superstar power of Garth, George, Alan, Clint, and Travis. He managed to score a nod for CMA male vocalist just one time in 1992. He was often always a presenter at award shows, rarely a performer.
His radio success was massive. “Pickup Man” ended up being the most-player song the year it was released. “A Night To Remember” was actually certified for 1 million radio spins not too long ago. Album sales were strong, too. Just not in the 4-6 million range that many of his peers were selling.
But the thing about Joe is that all those artists he worked with in the 90s absolutely loved him. I’ve been digging through 90s tv shows and interviews and the bond he had with many is just heartwarming. Especially his relationship with Travis Tritt. But then there’s a relationship with a lot of today’s radio stars. So many from Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett, Dustin Lynch, Locash, Michael Ray etc played shoes with him in recent years. And while some other 90s acts like Garth and Brooks + Dunn have collaborated or been affiliated with some of today’s acts, Joe Diffie was the one that was their friend. You never dream that your childhood idol would become your friend someday, and I think that’s why this one hurts even more.
I got to spend some time with him over the years. Child of the 90s here, so I adored his music growing up. And what I’ll always treasure most about Joe is that know matter how excited you were to meet or talk to him, he was just as excited to meet you.
April 11, 2020 @ 9:39 am
Yes, I made this point in his obituary. The fact that Diffie’s heydey was right when the “Class of ’89” was reigning supreme, he got unfairly overshadowed, even though he was a hit machine during that era.
April 11, 2020 @ 12:06 am
Long time ago i was a hiphop head, until a freak streaming accident unintentionally introduced me to George Jones and turned me on to country music over night.
But what really cemented my love of thus music was the discovery of 90s country, which began with the discovery of Joe Diffie’s ‘Avreage Joe’ album. What a fantastic album it is and what great singer he was. I very sad he’s passed on. May God bless his soul.
April 11, 2020 @ 6:33 am
“A product of his time” is sort of a dumb cliche. Most artists are products of their time. And if that time was the nineties, I guess it was pretty great, comparatively. Many of Joe’s recordings strike me as timeless.
April 11, 2020 @ 6:57 am
SiriusXM Outlaw Country will become “John Prine Radio Paradise” this weekend as the satellite radio channel devotes an entire weekend of programming to Prine. Prine will be remembered with special episodes of shows hosted by Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, and Alamo Jones. Prine’s music, along with archival interviews with the singer, form the basis of the tribute.
April 11, 2020 @ 8:14 am
I always liked “Ships that Don’t Come In”. He sang that very well. Diffie always had incredible range when he sand. He will be missed.
Trigger, off the subject, but do you know when the Country Music HOF will make their announcement for this year’s inductees? I know everything is at a stand-still due to Covid-19.
April 11, 2020 @ 9:35 am
The rumor I heard earlier this week was that the announcement would be coming “in a few weeks.” I really don’t see the value in making the announcement during the Coronavirus shutdown when it will just get buried. Let everything open up, and once they re-open the Hall of Fame to the public, it will be the perfect time to make the announcement, social distancing if need be. My understanding is the picks have already been made. They just need to make the announcement.
April 11, 2020 @ 12:16 pm
Thanks for the info! I agree, waiting is best so the announcement isn’t overshadowed by the news.
April 14, 2020 @ 2:34 pm
I’m a little late to this post, but just wanted to say that I saw Joe along with Mark Chesnutt and Neal McCoy last year and they all sounded just like they did coming through the radio in the ’90s. I was really looking forward to his new album that was about to come out, and I guess I still am now, but for other reasons.