Amy Winehouse Death: A Loss for Music, A Gain For Record Sales

The death of Amy Winehouse, marking a significant loss for music, has been beneficial for the artist's album sales, which has increased by almost 40 times and foreshadows a possible posthumous album.

Since her death on Saturday, Amy Winehouse album sales have increased by 37 times and her track sales have increased by 23 times, according to a statement in MSNBC made by the Official Charts Company. Her five time Grammy-award winning album Back to Black occupied the number one spot on both the UK and U.S. iTunes download chart within 24 hours of her death.

According to her publicist in a statement made to MSNBC, Amy Winehouse had been regularly recording new songs before her death though she had not released an official album since 2006's Back to Black.

She constantly wrote music, that's what she did. There are lots of demos knocking around and all sorts, the spokesman said.

As shown by historical trends, any outstanding tracks that do not make it into studio albums or those recorded in between studio albums, typically comprise postmortem tribute albums. For example, Tupac Shakur, who died in 1996 after a fatal shooting, has 9 posthumous albums, all of which have made it to multi-platinum or diamond levels of certification in the RIAA.

Winehouse, who only had two studio albums under her belt, could possibly warrant a posthumous album due to the popularity resurgence since her death.

Amy Winehouse Death, A Loss for Music

While the official cause is not declared yet, Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London flat on Saturday in an apparent, though not proven, drug overdose.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard told the UK Mirror that they had found the body of a 27-year-old-woman, allegedly Winehouse, pronounced dead at the scene directly following a call from the London Ambulance Service.

An ambulance spokesman told The Mirror Winehouse looked like she has died after a drink and drugs binge.

Sources say that Winehouse bought a variety of drugs, allegedly including cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine and possibly heroin, in Camden near her flat around 10:30 pm the night before.

Amy seemed determined to have a big one on Friday night, a source told The Daily Mail. She was out in Camden on Friday evening, but seemed determined to carry on the party back at her flat.

Jane Winehouse, Amy's mother, reportedly told The Daily Mirror that her daughter seemed out of it the day before she died.

Still, some of Winehouse's friends believe the cause of death could have been a bad ecstasy pill alone, rather than a possible lethal drug cocktail.

There was no sign of foul play, police said, and nothing suspicious about the death. Official details will not be known until the postmortem examine emerges sometime late Sunday or early Monday.

A Long History of Drug Abuse

The death of Amy Winehouse does not come as a shock to many, as frequent drug binges are not uncommon occurrences. Even her mother told The Daily Mirror that the death of Amy Winehouse was only a matter of time.

It was an Ecstasy overdose, a friend told The Mirror. She could do cocaine until the cows come home. But this was obviously a dodgy pill.

Amy Winehouse was just as well-known for her eclectic genre mixing music and powerful voice as she was for her public battle with drugs and alcohol and substance abuse issues, which sometimes outshadowed her talent. Winehouse has publicly admitted to struggling with drug usage, self-harm, depression and eating disorders., referring to herself often times as an alcoholic in denial.

Multiple stints in rehab and a famous single entitled Rehab gave Winehouse the reputation that she hardly was ever sober.

Back in June following her latest release from a Priory Clinic, Winehouse gave a performance in Belgrade, Serbia, but made memorable for her music. The singer was apparently intoxicated during the performance, reported in the media as the worst [concert] in the history of Belgrade, and spent nearly an hour and a half hugging herself, taking off her shoes, and forgetting the lyrics and tunes to some of her biggest hits.

Winehouse overdosed on heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine, whiskey and vodka in 2007, in which she was hospitalized. During this time, she cancelled her upcoming shows and told German magazine Stern, I really thought that it was over for me then.

No citizen above the law, she was also arrested for possession of marijuana in Norway the same year.

The singer repeatedly was reported as being off drugs before relapsing. She People in October, 2010, I used to use drugs and I haven't used drugs in almost three years. I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don't want to do this any more.'