BEASTIE BOYS’ ALBUM sales have skyrocketed following the tragic death of founding band member Adam Yauch.

Yauch had been suffering from cancer for a number of years and died on 4 May.

The album ‘Licensed to Ill’ has re-entered the charts at number 18 on the US Billboard Chart. The 1986 album was the band’s debut and was the first rap album to top the Billboard chart.

It is not just their debut album that has re-entered the charts after over 20 years – ‘Solid Gold Hits’ is at number 51, ‘Paul’s Boutique’ at number 56, ‘Hot Sauce Committee Part Two’ at number 107, ‘Ill Communication’ at number 109, ‘Check Your Head’ at number 124 and ‘Beastie Boys Anthology: The Sounds of Science’ at number 141.

Billboard.biz reports that collectively the band’s albums sold 55,000 copies last week – up 1,235 per cent from 4,000 the previous week.

The Irish Record Association (IRMA) shows that the band did not feature on the Irish album charts.

The Huffington Post reports that the day before Yauch tragically died the band were hit with a copyright lawsuit. The record label is suing the group over samples used on some of the albums arguing that they should benefit from sales.

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