'Gone' Too Soon, A Late Legend Extends Her Legacy on Billboard’s Charts
Twenty four years after her death, a new song lands Aaliyah back on the radio.
More than two decades after her death, Aaliyah continues to burn brightly on Billboard’s charts.
The late singer, who died in a plane crash in 2001 at the age of 22, earns a new hit on two radio charts with “Gone,” featuring Tank, after its release on May 2. The song, released on Blackground Records, opens at No. 20 on the Adult R&B Airplay chart — the week’s highest debut — and at No. 43 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay ranking based on data for May 2-8 tracking week, according to Luminate.
The radio heater adds a new chapter to the pair’s professional relationship, which began when Aaliyah recruited Tank as a background singer in 1997. Of their many performances, most fans point to the track “Come Over” as their finest moment. Aaliyah leads the charge for two verses and two hooks, but suddenly, Tank elevates the sensual mood by decorating the entire bridge in harmonized falsetto croons — without actually singing a single word. “That’s probably my most famous vocal I’ve ever laid in the history of my career,” he joked in a 2020 interview with 247HH. Originally recorded for Aaliyah’s 2001 self-titled album — it didn’t make the final cut — “Come Over” was included on the singer’s first posthumous album, I Care 4 U, and reached No. 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2003.
With “Gone,” Aaliyah’s span of Billboard hits extends to just over 31 years, rewinding to her chart debut on April 23, 1994, when “Back and Forth” started at No. 52 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. That breakthrough single ignited a generationally impactful career, setting the stage for classics such as “One in a Million,” “Are You That Somebody?” and “Try Again” in the following years.
Tank isn’t the first artist, however, to turn a posthumous collab with Aaliyah into a Billboard chart hit. Drake fashioned an unreleased track, “Enough Said,” and dropped it in 2012, getting to No. 55 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The next year, Chris Brown borrowed a previous Aaliyah and Digital Black duet, “Don’t Think They Know,” for a reimagined version — different song, same title — that reached No. 29 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 81 on the Hot 100. More recently, The Weeknd completed the track “Poison,” a No. 15 hit on the Hot R&B Songs chart in 2022.
“Poison” and “Gone” are previews of an expected forthcoming Aaliyah album, Unstoppable, though concrete details are scarce. In 2021, Billboard noted the release was planned for 2022 in an interview with Barry Hankerson, Aaliyah’s uncle and Blackground records founder. The latest update came on Jan. 16, 2025 — what would have been Aaliyah’s 46th birthday — when the label informed fans on social media that the project was slated for 2024, but would be delayed again, “to ensure what we create is not just a collection of songs but a deeply meaningful body of work. This project is more than music — it's about preserving her essence and continuing to share her light with the world.” In that 2021 interview, Hankerson noted Drake, Future, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown and Snoop Dogg were all planned collaborators.
If past is prologue, a well-received Unstoppable could still find a legion of loyal Aaliyah fans. After all, when the singer’s second and third albums — One in a Million and Aaliyah — finally, finally, reached streaming services in 2021, her devotees rallied to big results. (And Billboard had the inside story as to how it became available again.) Million returned to the Billboard 200 at No. 10 — outdoing its peak of No. 18 from its original release — while Aaliyah re-entered at No. 13. —Trevor Anderson
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