Turns out that leading 200,000 people at Glastonbury in chants of ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘Death to the IDF’ was a touch of marketing genius by Bob Vylan, whose 2024 album Humble as the sun has re-entered the UK charts, while their Spotify listenership has also shot up massively.
Humble as the Sun is currently at the top of the UK hip-hop and R&B albums chart, at No. 7 on the album downloads chart, and No. 8 on the independent albums chart.
In a post on X, Bob Vylan said this is a testament to the ‘power of the people’:
Ban Bob Vylan? The people said ‘Nah’. We need artists that speak up. Our album ‘Humble As The Sun’ is back in the charts and, as an independent band releasing music on our own label, it shows the power of the people. You can’t get dropped if you own the label.
Thank you all! pic.twitter.com/2QsjP00e1i— Bob Vylan (@BobbyVylan) July 6, 2025
In the days following the controversy at Glastonbury, Bob Vylan were dropped by their management, removed from festival line-ups around Europe, and had their US visas revoked which meant they had to cancel their tour out there.
Despite surging up the charts and on music streaming sites, the real money is in performing, so you still have to think they’re taking a financial hit overall.
Then again, without a label or management, it does mean that Bob Vylan own their music and get to keep 100% of the profits they make from sales and streaming, and there are still plenty of venues that will host them around Europe. Just not any big ones and certainly nothing that will ever be televised by the BBC.
Will be interesting to see whether Bob Vylan can sustain this surge in popularity. There’s also the question of the ongoing criminal investigation into their set at Glastonbury. Surely they won’t lock them up over it, will they?
For the time Logan Paul expertly trolled the BBC by sending a lookalike to be interviewed by them, click HERE.
