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David Bowie fans flock to social media to pay their respects

Published Jan 11th, 2016 9:15PM EST

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Fans of David Bowie flocked to social media Monday to pay their respects to the music legend.  Bowie, 69, died Sunday after an 18-month battle with cancer.

The rock and roll icon was a top trend on Twitter, which reported 2.79 million David Bowie-related Tweets shortly after 10 a.m ET.  Earlier on Monday, Twitter UK noted 20,000 Tweets per minute related to the “Ashes to Ashes” singer.

British Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to Bowie on Twitter, as did a host of celebrities, including musician Chris Cornell.   “140 characters will not suffice (nor would ten thousand words) #DavidBowie we love you and we will miss you,” he tweeted.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield, who covered Bowie’s “Space Oddity” from the International Space Station in 2013, also paid his respects, tweeting “Ashes to ashes, dust to stardust. Your brilliance inspired us all. Goodbye Starman.”

Fans were also using social media to share their favorite David Bowie lyrics.

Bowie died two days after the release of “Blackstar”, his 29th album, which had been timed to coincide with his birthday. The singer had kept a low profile in recent years after reportedly suffering a heart attack in the 2000s, and it had not been widely known that he was struggling with cancer.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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