The disturbing sexual misconduct allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs haven’t turned listeners away from his music. In fact, the rapper’s Spotify listenership has actually surged in the month since he was arrested and charged with sex trafficking, among other crimes.
Here are the key stats: Diddy’s Spotify listeners increased 36% between Sept. 16, the day he was arrested in New York City, and Oct. 16, according to new data shared by Chartmetric, a music streaming analytics company.
In terms of total fans, Diddy had 13.2 million Spotify listeners over the past month — which is about 3.5 million more monthly listeners than he had in September, August and July, when his listenership was fairly static, per Chartmetric’s data.
Diddy Trial Date Set for May 2025
Diddy’s most-streamed song over the last month is “Gotta Move On,” featuring Bryson Tiller, off his 2023 album, “The Love Album: Off the Grid.” Other popular tracks include “I’ll Be Missing You,” his 1997 ode to Notorious B.I.G. following the Bad Boy rapper’s murder; and “Another One of Me,” also off the aforementioned 2023 album.
The rap mogul, whose real name is Sean Combs, was arrested in NYC last month after being indicted by a grand jury. He and his cronies were charged with committing several federal crimes, including forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, obstruction of justice and sex trafficking.
“Among other things, Combs’ sexual abuse of women included causing them to engage in frequent, days-long sexual activity with male commercial sex workers, some of whom were transported over state lines. These events, which Combs referred to as ‘Freak Offs,’ were elaborate sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, and often electronically recorded,” Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said last month.
Diddy has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, as all of his attempts to be released have been denied. His trial has been set for May 5, 2025.
“Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children and working to uplift the Black community,” Marc Agnifilo, Combs’ attorney, told TMZ last month. “He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal.”
Since his initial federal charges, others have come forward to accuse Diddy of wrongdoing. Earlier this month, Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee said he would be representing at least 120 accusers against the rapper. Last Monday, Buzbee filed his first six sexual assault complaints — including one from a man who claims Diddy sexually assaulted him as a teen in the late ’90s.