George Floyd: Streams of NWA's 'F*** Tha Police' up 270% amid police brutality protests

Tracks by Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino and Killer Mike are also experiencing a resurgence in popularity as protesters use them as anti-racism anthems

NWA’s 1988 anti-police brutality anthem “F** Tha Police” has seen a huge jump in streams as it becomes one of several songs used by Black Lives Matter protesters.

The track saw a 272 per cent increase in on-demand audio streams between 27 May to 1 June, compared to the previous five days.

The statistics were compiled by Alpha Data, the analytics provider used for Rolling Stone’s song and album charts.

Other tracks, including Childish Gambino’s Grammy-winning “This is America” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright”, are also experiencing a resurgence in popularity in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

“F*** Tha Police” saw its main surge on Sunday 31 May and Monday 1 June. It previously experienced a resurgence in August 2015 during the Ferguson protests over the shooting of Michael Brown.

Childish Gambino, the artistic moniker of musician and actor Donald Glover, went viral on TikTok last month when teenagers began incorporating it into videos about racial inequality.

Other tracks experiencing fresh waves of popularity include Kendrick Lamar’s anthem “Alright”, Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power”, Killer Mike’s “Don’t Die”, and Beyoncé’s “Freedom”.

This week, a protest outside the White House saw thousands of citizens sing the late Bill Withers classic “Lean on Me”.

Protests continue to take place across virtually all major cities in the US and around the world over racism and police brutality.