It’s true what they say: in times of great need, the world joins together in more ways than one could have ever imagined. And of course, the odd celebrity endorsement never hurts. The much-anticipated “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon aired last Friday night, raising over $61 million and garnering an average of 24 million viewers, and that’s not including the 5.8 million viewers streaming the special online. In addition to raising money for victims of the earthquake that struck Haiti about two weeks earlier, the telethon also featured performances by A-list artists including Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Neil Young, Dave Matthews, Matt Morris, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Jay-Z, and Bono from U2.
Collaborations between artists included Timberlake and Morris singing Leonard Cohen’s famed ballad “Hallelujah” and Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Bono’s rendition of “Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour).” Needless to say, these collabs vastly helped the efforts to raise money, while the “Hope for Haiti Now” recording has beat out all current chart-topping artists on Billboard 200 and on iTunes’ albums chart. The recording is set to enter #1 this week on the US charts, with roughly 175,000 units sold, making it the first digital-only release to reach #1. And that’s representing less than three days of only digital sales, as Hypebot reports.
• Hope for Haiti Now: https://hopeforhaitinow.org
