Monday (April 20) night’s epic “Verzuz” battle between Babyface and Teddy Riley was one for the books. After two postponements, the head-to-head Instagram Live finally went down and R&B fans everywhere have continued to stream the 90s hits from that night.
According to Billboard, the tracks have “collectively registered 3 million on-demand audio streams in the U.S. on April 21, the day following the late-night session, compared with a cumulative 1.4 million haul on the 20th, a day-over-day surge of 115%.”
Tevin Campbell’s “Can We Talk” earned the highest streams after the Live took place. The 1993 hit song gathered 232,000 streams; up 110,000 from the day before the battle. Blackstreet’s “No Diggity” accumulated 173,000 streams while SWV’s “Right Here/Human Nature” brought in 128,000.
Campbell’s “I’m Ready” climbed to 86,000 streams from 27,000. Babyface’s “Soon As I Get Home” rose to 81,000 from 17,000 and “Whip Appeal” shot up to 89,000 streams from 38,000. “Love Shoulda Brought You Home” by Toni Braxton produced 74,000 streams; up 493% from 12,000 the previous day.
Riley spoke to Billboard about who he would like to see in the next “Verzuz” battle.
“For me, I’d love to see the women,” he said. “Because they’re great, they’re just as great as the men, and some are even better. You’ve got Missy, who’s the extraordinaire. You got Janet Jackson. You got a lot of female producers, writers, content makers, singers… so I would love to see the women.”
The super producer also shared who he thought won on Monday.
“I felt like my friends, better known to others as fans,” he said. “They won. The fans won.”
TIDAL has curated a 40-track “Verzuz” Babyface vs Teddy Riley playlist so fans can have easy access to all of the songs from the duel. Check it out below.