Stranger Things pushes 80s pop star Kate Bush to the top of the charts

Reclusive British pop icon Kate Bush has reacted to her 1985 song Running Up That Hill racing up the charts, knocking Harry Styles from his number one spot.

Pop icon Kate Bush is running up those streams with Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) finally reaching the summit of the ARIA singles chart as a new generation of fans discover the song from the latest season of sci-fi series Stranger Things.

The song peaked at No.6 when it was first released here in 1985 and re-entered the ARIA charts last week at No.2 just days after the new episodes of Stranger Things dropped on Netflix.

It received millions of plays this week on streaming services, propelling it to the top and knocking off the Harry Styles hit As It Was.

Running Up That Hill is Bush’s first No.1 in Australia since Wuthering Heights in 1978 and is also her first top 10 hit in the US.

Doja Cat’s new song Vegas, the first single from Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis film which premiered on the Gold Coast and Sydney last week, debuted on the ARIA chart at No.17.

KATE BUSH BREAKS SILENCE

Reclusive British pop icon Kate Bush has broken her silence on the bizarre recent success of her 1985 hit Running Up That Hill after it was used by Netflix in the series Stranger Things.

Posting on her website, Bush stated:

“You might’ve heard that the first part of the fantastic, gripping new series of ‘Stranger Things’ has recently been released on Netflix. It features the song, ‘Running Up That Hill’ which is being given a whole new lease of life by the young fans who love the show – I love it too!”

Bush, who rarely gives interviews to press and has not performed since her comeback concert in 2014, continued:

“It’s all really exciting! Thanks very much to everyone who has supported the song. I wait with bated breath for the rest of the series in July.”

Kate Bush has been discovered by a new generation of fans after Running Up That Hill featured in Stranger Things. Picture: Rob Verhorst/Redferns

It comes as Bush’s 1985 classic claimed No. 1 on the Spotify and iTunes charts last week after featuring throughout episodes of the latest Stranger Things series.

The streaming sci-fi drama continues to exert its viral influence on the charts in its fourth season but songs from the blockbuster films Top Gun: Maverick and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis are having a slower progression up the streaming ranks.

Young fans of Stranger Things propelled Bush’s 37-year-old power pop song from an average of 3000 daily streams before the series dropped on May 27, to a whopping 250,000 plays a day within a week.

While Bush is not big on licensing her songs, she is a Stranger Things fangirl, and gave permission for Running Up That Hill to be used as the season’s “theme” for Sadie Sink’s character Max.

“Kate Bush is selective when it comes to licensing her music and because of that, we made sure to get script pages and footage for her to review so she could see exactly how the song would be used, said Wende Crowley of Sony Music Publishing, who fielded the licensing request.

It’s not the only song enjoying a Gen Z-led resurgence thanks to its placement in Stranger Things.

Musical Youth’s Pass The Dutchie, which first topped the charts in 1982, is racing up the Spotify viral charts, with Dead Or Alive’s You Spin Me Round and Falco’s Rock Me Amadeus also scoring big spikes in their daily streams.

Tom Cruise’s Top Gun sequel has also reignited the nostalgic pop love for the Kenny Loggins hit Danger Zone and Harold Faltermeyer and Steve Stevens from the original 1986 film, with both tracks landing on the Spotify and iTunes charts since the film’s release last week.

Lady Gaga’s original song for the series, Hold My Hand, is having a slower rise on streaming services with more than 21 million Spotify plays since its release a month ago, and it’s unlikely to match the global chart-topping success of her blockbuster soundtrack hit Shallow from A Star Is Born, which has more than two billion streams.

The soundtrack to Elvis remains highly anticipated but is proving to be slower off the blocks than the songs from previous Luhrmann films despite its recent premiere at the annual Cannes festival and ahead of its Australian launch screenings this weekend in the Gold Coast and Sydney.

Luhrmann is yet to release the final track listing for the soundtrack album and is believed to still be working on the songs ahead of its official release on June 24.

The lead single from Elvis is Vegas by pop queen Doja Cat, which interpolates a sample of Big Mama Thornton’s original version of Hound Dog, and has generated more than 18 million plays on Spotify since its release on May 6.

Other tracks given sneak preview snippets on YouTube include the Kacey Musgraves’ version of Can’t Help Falling In Love, Italian Eurovision heroes Maneskin remaking the Elvis hit If I Can Dream and a new collaboration from Eminem and Cee Lo Green called The King And I.