Adam Levine and Maroon 5 know a thing or two about controversial music videos. They also know the saying “any publicity is good publicity” – a fact only reinforced by the sales bump they’re experiencing with their latest single “Sugar.”
First, there was the uproar over Maroon 5’s controversial video for the hit song “Animals,” off their fifth album V , which many women’s group claimed glorified stalking. There was also buzz over it’s backdrop in the meat packing industry which rallied several animal rights group in Adam Levine’s corner as well.
Now, it’s “Sugar,” the synth-heavy third single which has sold 620,000 copies in the U.S. since its September release, according to Billboard . And thanks to the viral video, which featured Adam Levine and Maroon 5 crashing weddings in L.A., “Sugar” is poised for an even bigger bump in both streaming and sales.
“The clip has drawn 16 million global YouTube views since its posting,” Billboard writes, “likely making for a high debut on next week’s Streaming Songs chart (which measures U.S. clicks).”
The video opens with Adam Levine announcing Maroon 5’s intentions before embarking on their challenge.
“It’s Dec. 6, 2014,” Levine says. “We’re going to drive across L.A. and hit every wedding we possibly can. It’s going to be awesome.”
Which, if you capture the reactions of the video’s participants, sure looks like it is.
But that’s where things get a bit murky. In an earlier post by Inquistr , Maroon 5 reportedly crashed the weddings of several unsuspecting couples, which contributed to the video going viral. But now it’s been revealed that some of those weddings may actually have been staged, transforming the video from buzzy to controversial.
And controversial equals sales. The video helped “Sugar” soar to No. 1 on the real-time Billboard and Twitter Trending 140 on January January 16, ahead of the No. 1 song on the Hot 100, Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk!,” featuring Bruno Mars. And the “Sugar” video is helping to push sales, with “industry prognosticators predicting that ‘Sugar’ will sell more than 150,000 downloads in the week ending Jan. 18.”
“Radio airplay is kicking in, too, with the song set to debut on Pop Songs and Adult Pop Songs next week,” according to Billboard .
Factor in that Maroon 5 is also one of the priciest tickets to grab on the secondary market, according to Pop Dust , and Adam Levine and company may enjoy their most lucrative year yet. In the end, that’s the kind of “Sugar” Maroon 5 can be happy with.
Watch the video for Maroon 5’s video “Sugar” starring Adam Levine below:
