AALIYAH’S second studio album, One in a Million, finally hit music streaming platforms on Friday for the first time, 20 years after her death.
The R&B singer tragically died, alongside eight others, in a plane crash on August 25, 2001, at the age of just 22.
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After years of waiting to hear all of her music, including her three studio albums, on digital music services, like Spotify and iTunes, Aaliyah fans were finally treated to a new release.
Though her debut album, Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number, has already been on there for a little while, Friday brought the first time her sophomore release, One in a Million, found its way onto the platforms.
Originally released on August 27, 1996, when the singer was 17 years old, all of the songs, including its six singles, like If Your Girl Only Knew, are now available to stream.
It immediately made its way to the top of multiple digital charts, which excited fans were happy about and even predicted.
“Aaliyah on the way to break all the streaming records…,” one listener tweeted.
A second wrote: “aaliyah got a 25 year old album at #1 within an hour ahhhhh that’s history.”
Others noted how amazing it was that “Aaliyah really made this album” at just the age of 17, and that they’re excited her “music can now be heard with no limitations.
Fans said they’ve “waited so long and [Aaliyah] deserves this.”
With the streaming release, one fan hoped that now “haters will understand why Aaliyah, Timbaland, & Missy changed R&B forever and created the R&B blueprint that is still present in today’s music 25 years later.”
The decision to finally release Aaliyah’s albums on streaming platforms comes just before the 20th anniversary of her death on August 25.
The R&B singer tragically died in August 2001 after a chartered plane destined for Miami crashed less than a minute after take-off in the Bahamas.
It was later revealed that the pilot, who wasn’t qualified to fly the plane, had traces of cocaine and alcohol in his body.
It was also discovered that the Cessna 402 twin-engine light aircraft had exceeded its maximum weight capacity by several hundred pounds.
That weight had also not been evenly distributed, making the aircraft harder to control once it was airborne.
Why the plane was cleared to take off in the first place has largely remained a mystery since the devastating crash almost two decades ago.
Aaliyah reportedly didn’t want to get on the flight because she was worried the small twin-engine plane was overloaded, music journalist Kathy Iandoli’s new book Baby Girl: Better Known as Aaliyah claims.
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