For quite some time now, fans of the late R&B/pop superstar Aaliyah have been begging for all of her music to find its way to the largest streaming services — for far too long, their wishes have gone ungranted. Now, the paperwork has officially been sorted and those who love and miss baby girl can now scratch task “be around for the return of Aaliyah’s music” off of their checklists. Seeing that her entire discography has been pretty much non existent digitally, this is some huge news that her entire catalog makes its first appearance. Today (Aug 20), Aaliyah’s second studio album One In A Million sets up camp on all streaming platforms.
As of June 16, 1997, One In A Million is 2x platinum and there is no telling how many more sold since then. The rollout begins today with this release and it continues into early October, with new titles appearing regularly. In September, fans will be treated to the soundtracks to the film Romeo Must Die, which Aaliyah co-starred in as well as her own self-titled full-length. October will see her compilations Ultimate Aaliyah and I Care 4 U arrive as well, rounding out the highly-anticipated releases. Born in 1979 in Brooklyn, New York, Aaliyah was just 12 when she signed a record deal with her uncle’s label. Two years later, Hankerson secured her a distribution deal with Jive Records. Former Jive A&R Jeff Sledge remembers her as “very intuitive”.
The Grammy-nominated powerhouse, who was killed when her plane went down in the Caribbean in 2001, has stood as one of the only major acts not present on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music for years now. Thankfully, that is no longer the case as of today. Before this exciting moment, her debut full-length Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number album was the only project released on streaming platforms.