Faithless‘ 1995 single ‘Insomnia’ has made its way into the top 10 of the Beatport Top 100, just weeks after the passing of longtime frontman Maxi Jazz.
The “Monster Mix” version of the single, which was included on the original 1995 UK and European release, currently sits at number seven on the website’s Trance chart. It follows on from the song entering the UK’s Single Downloads chart at number four a week after Jazz’s death, as well as their 2005 best-of ‘Forever Faithless’ entering the UK Album Downloads chart at number seven simultaneously.
Beatport is a long-serving electronic music store, where DJs can purchase songs for their sets as well as stems for potential remixes. Its various genre-oriented charts track what songs are most popular among its community at any given time.
Jazz – born Maxwell Fraser – passed away on December 23rd, 2022, at the age of 65. He served as the frontman of Faithless throughout their entire initial run, between 1995 and 2011, across six studio albums. He rejoined the group for their 2015 reunion, but left a year later. The two remaining members – Rollo Armstrong and Ayalah “Sister Bliss” Bentovim – continued the group without him, releasing the album ‘All Blessed’ in 2020 with Jazz’s reported approval.
‘Insomnia’ was the group’s second single, and went on to become their signature song. The song topped the dance charts in the US, the UK, Canada and Sweden, as well as the overall singles charts in Finland, Norway and Switzerland. The single also peaked within the top five in the UK, Ireland, Iceland, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Austria and Scotland. It went double platinum in the UK, Platinum in Germany and Norway, and gold in Australia, Belgium, France and Switzerland.
In March 2022, the song was unexpectedly remixed into a 27-minute “Blissful Sleep Remix”. Sister Bliss said that the collaboration with CDB brand OTO was forged with hopes to “help a nation of bad sleepers finally get the rest they’re craving”.