In what has become a modern digital mourning ritual, fans of the Beastie Boys swarmed onto iTunes over the weekend to snatch up copies of the trio's albums in honor of the passing of member Adam "MCA" Yauch.

The rapper, who [article id="1684488"]died on Friday[/article]
 at age 47, left behind a legacy of eight studio albums with partners [article id="1684569"]Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz[/article]
 and Michael "Mike D" Diamond. With everyone from [article id="1684559"] Madonna[/article]
, to the B-Boys' longtime DJ, Mix Master Mike and [article id="1684504"]Justin Timberlake[/article]
 paying homage, as well as in-concert shout-outs from Coldplay, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and fun. over the weekend, Yauch's memory was clearly on the minds of his peers.

But fans were feeling nostalgic as well, since all of the trio's studio albums featuring their intricate rhymes rocketed onto the iTunes charts since the news broke Friday. As of press time on Monday morning (May 7), the group's 1986 debut, Licensed to Ill moved up to the #3 position on the iTunes album chart, with the sample-thick 1989 follow-up, Paul's Boutique, on the chart at #13. A 1999 anthology charted at #26, followed by 1994's Ill Communication at #27, 1992's rock and rap hybrid Check Your Head (#38), their final studio effort, last year's Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (#42), the Boutique re-issue (#83), 2004's To the 5 Boroughs (#174) and the Head re-issue (#184).

The sales surge followed the pattern of rush buying that accompanied the recent deaths of [article id="1679168"]Whitney Houston[/article]
, [article id="1668000"]Amy Winehouse[/article]
, Etta James and [article id="1614952"]Michael Jackson[/article]
.

It's likely that a number of the albums will make it onto the Billboard 200 chart this week as well when it is released on Wednesday.

Share your memories of Adam on Twitter using the hashtag #RIPMCA.