According to a report by The Guardian, the price of Whitney Houston’s album, The Ultimate Collection, apparently found itself the subject of a 60% price increase in Apple’s iTunes music store shortly following the 48-year-old singer’s death on Saturday.
The report indicates that Sony Music appeared “to have lifted the wholesale price of Houston’s greatest hits album” at around 4am PT on Sunday – roughly 12 hours after news of the singer’s death was originally reported. The album was found in the U.K. version of the iTunes store, and reportedly increased from £4.99 to £7.99 before “Apple returned the album to its original price late Sunday,” reports The Guardian.
Apple and Sony Music aren’t commenting on the matter, but “one insider close to the situation” suggested to The Guardian that the price hike may have come about after Sony Music realized that the wholesale price of Houston’s album had been incorrect and, once corrected, accounted for the retail price change inside Apple’s music store.
Houston’s The Ultimate Collection isn’t currently listed in the U.S. version of iTunes, though her album Whitney – The Greatest Hits is currently sitting at the top spot. The album is priced at $14.99 and contains 36 tracks. Of the 32 Whitney Houston albums currently available in the U.S. iTunes store, only two cost $14.99; the rest are priced at $9.99 or less.
More Whitney Houston coverage on TIME.com:
- The Voice: Whitney Houston (1963-2012)
- Whitney Houston’s Death: Celebrities Mourn the Music Icon on Twitter
- Whitney Houston’s Best—Her Ten Most Memorable Songs
- Whitney Houston: A Life in Photos
- Fans on YouTube Pay Tribute To Whitney Houston
- Whitney Houston’s Death: Hallmarks of a Battle Against Addiction and Overdose
- Grammy Watch: Whitney’s Legacy, in TV and Divas
- Archive: Whitney Houston, the Prom Queen of Soul