Diddy's Radio Airplay Drops After Sexual Abuse Allegations and Federal Agent Home Raids

Sean “Diddy” Combs has maintained a steady presence Advertising signon the charts since the mid-1990s, when he founded Bad Boy Records and began charting with his own smash singles “Can't Nobody Hold Me Down,” “I'll Be Missing You” and more . These songs and others from his catalog have gone on to garner millions of streams and are radio classics, still earning hundreds of plays each week. However, due to a series of allegations of sexual misconduct and, most recently, two raids on his homes on March 25 by the Department of Homeland Security in connection with an ongoing sex-trafficking investigation, his familiar presence on the radio and on top streaming playlists may be at risk.

Diddy's music catalog* (see below) has been playing continuously on the radio since Cassie, the mogul's ex-girlfriend, filed a lawsuit on Nov. 16, 2023, accusing Combs of years of abuse and one count of rape. The lawsuit alleged that she had “endured over a decade of his violent behavior and deranged demands,” including repeatedly beating her and forcing her to “engage in sexual acts with male sex workers.”

From Nov. 3 to 16, 2023 — the two tracking weeks leading up to Cassie's deposition — Diddy's catalog generated 11,000 radio spins, which translated into 23.3 million radio audience impressions, according to Luminate. In the following two weeks of tracking (November 17-30), his catalog garnered 8,000 spins (down 28%), equaling 17.3 million impressions (down 26%).

Almost every week since then, Diddy's catalog has dropped at radio. In the most recent two-week span (March 15-28), his catalog garnered 1,000 spins that garnered 4 million impressions. Compared to the two weeks before Cassie's submission in November, that's an 88% drop in radio spins and a steep 83% drop in radio audience.

Radio's steepest one-week decline occurred between November 24-30 and December 1-7. Diddy's music saw a 41% drop in radio spins during that time (from 3,000 to 2,000) and a 31% drop in audience (6.9 million to 4.7 million). The drop came as Diddy was hit with another pair of lawsuits on Nov. 23: One, filed by Joy Dickerson-Neal, alleging the superstar drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1991, while a second — by an anonymous accuser – claimed the music mogul sexually assaulted and beat her. Also contributing to the dive, many radio stations (though not primarily R&B/hip-hop formats) begin playing holiday music after Thanksgiving. So off-holiday fare could see a dip in activity to make room for holiday music.

While Diddy's radio presence is on the wane, his streaming sets don't tell the same story. Except for his latest LP The Love album: Off the Grid (released September 15th, making for a fairer catalog comparison), Diddy's catalog garnered 6.7 million US on-demand streams** (see below) November 3-16 – the two weeks before Cassie's filing – and 4.5 million in the two most recent viewing weeks (March 15-28), down 31%.

Last week, Diddy's daily streams increased after his homes were raided on Monday (March 25). On Saturday and Sunday (March 23-24), Diddy's catalog earned 930,000 streams. In the two days following the home invasions (March 26-27) it earned 1.28 million, up 38%.

On March 26, the day after the raids on Diddy's homes in Los Angeles and Miami, his lawyer, Aaron Dyer, spoke out against the “abuse of military force” in raids on the musician's residences and vowed to end the “witch hunt.” ” against his client. While the results are yet to be seen, Diddy's drop on the airwaves shows that many stations have already made up their minds.

*Diddy's music catalog includes all titles credited to Diddy, P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, Puff Daddy & The Family and Diddy Dirty Money. This excludes select credits such as The Notorious BIG's “Mo Money Mo Problems”, which features Diddy.

**Diddy's stream total includes user-generated content or UGC streams, which are not counted in the Billboard charts.

–Kevin Rutherford and Trevor Anderson contributed to this report