Prince's music sales surging online

Sales of Prince's music have soared since news broke of the pop star's death.

Within hours, five of his songs -- "Purple Rain," ''Little Red Corvette," "When Doves Cry," "Kiss," and "Let's Go Crazy" -- surged to the top five spots on on iTunes' Top Songs chart.

Four of his albums -- "The Very Best of Prince," ''Purple Rain," ''The Hits / The B-Sides," and "1999" -- jumped to 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th on iTunes' Top Albums chart by Thursday afternoon, while "Sign O' the Times" clocked in at number 6.

Prince's publicist confirmed he was found dead at his suburban Minneapolis home Thursday morning. He had been ill with the flu last week, but the cause of his death is not yet known.

One of the best-selling recording artists of all time, Prince sold more than 100 million records worldwide. He was famously averse to music streaming, however. Last July, CBS News reported that Prince's publishers asked Spotify and other streaming services to remove his catalog from their repertoire, except for Tidal, Jay-Z's streaming music service, and Google Play.

A Google Play spokesperson did not respond to CBS News' request for comment.

A Spotify spokesman said Prince's catalog is not on the music service. His artist page on Spotify says: "Prince's publisher has asked all streaming services to remove his catalog."

Prince has posted songs to Soundcloud, but the tracks have been removed.

Fans can stream Prince's most recent album, "HITNRUN Phase Two," on Apple's streaming service, Apple Music.