UK Singer Lands First No. 1 US Single Thanks To 'Stranger Things'

Songs that are featured in movies, television shows or commercials can often see a boost in popularity for downloads and plays, with people hearing them for the first time or reigniting their love for them in a nostalgic way.

A series on a streaming platform may have provided one of the biggest boosts to a song ever.

What Happened: The fourth season of “Stranger Things” on Netflix Inc NFLX helped U.K. singer Kate Bush achieve her first-ever No. 1 single in the United States. The 1985 song “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” is featured in several episodes of the season and plays a significant role in Max’s storyline.

The song, which was the first single off the album “Hounds of Love,” hit No. 1 on the iTunes song chart from Apple Inc AAPL for the past week. The song previously peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard Top 100 songs list back in 1985.

The song spent 20 weeks on the U.S. Top 100 chart and was the highest charting single in the country for Bush.

Bush released 10 studio albums in her career, with all 10 ranking in the top 10 in the United Kingdom, including “Hounds of Love” hitting No. 1 in the country. “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” peaked at No. 3 on the U.K. song charts.

Bush’s debut single “Wuthering Heights” reached No. 1 in the U.K. in 1978 and nearly cracked the top 100 in the U.S. Bush had four singles rank in the top 100 in the U.S., according to Billboard.

Along with the song ranking on the charts, “Running Up That Hill” is also dominating the streaming market. Spotify Technology SPOT reported an 8,700% increase in global streams on Monday, May 30 compared to Thursday, May 26, prior to the streaming premiere of season 4 of “Stranger Things.”

Streams for the song in the U.S. increased 9,900% from Friday to Monday. The song currently ranks No. 2 in the U.S. and No. 4 globally on Spotify’s streaming charts.

Related Link: Stranger Things Shatters A Netflix Record With Fourth Season: What Fans And Investors Should Know 

Why It’s Important: The popularity of “Stranger Things” has helped boost songs before, with the use of the theme song from “The NeverEnding Story” in season 3 boosting searches for the song by 800%.

Other Season 4 featured tracks like “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record), “Pass the Dutchie” and “Rock Me Amadeus” also saw significant increases on Spotify for the weekend.

When working on season 5 of “Stranger Things,” the show will likely find interest from musicians to include their work to help boost old catalog songs and may get a discount on the licensing rights to songs due to the significant exposure they can create for artists.

Season 4 of “Stranger Things” broke a record as the most watched English-language series in its release week. Episodes from the fourth season were viewed for a total of 287 million hours.

Photo by slydogmania via Wikimedia.