Ever since the Billboard Hot 100 chart changed its methodology to include streaming music figures in its song placements, hits have started to emerge from all sorts of places. Since the chart now more accurately reflects what people are listening to on Spotify and the like, older songs that find renewed life in the public consciousness have a greater chance at chart success; Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” was a hit in 2021 and returned to the Hot 100, for example.
Now, Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” is experiencing a similar revival thanks to its inclusion in the new season of Stranger Things. In fact, it’s currently one of the biggest songs in the country: On the new Hot 100 chart dated June 11, the 1985 single has risen all the way up to No. 8. “Running Up That Hill” was previously Bush’s biggest single in the US with a peak at No. 30, but now it is her first song to land inside the top 10 spots. This is the song’s first time on the chart since January 1986.
The #Hot100 top 10 (chart dated June 11, 2022)
— billboard charts (@billboardcharts) June 6, 2022
.@KateBushMusic's "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" re-enters this week's #Hot100 chart at No. 8, a new peak, following its appearance in @Stranger_Things. It's her first career top 10 hit.
It last appeared on the chart in January 1986, and originally peaked at No. 30.
— billboard charts (@billboardcharts) June 6, 2022
The song is also doing well on the Digital Song Sales chart, where it’s No. 1. It’s also No. 6 on the Streaming Songs chart. Furthermore, “Running Up That Hill” has now completed one of the longest journeys from a song’s Hot 100 debut to its first week in the top 10, a journey that took 36 years, nine months, and one week. This is the longest such run since Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” completed a significantly longer journey of the same type in 2020, after a wait of 62 years and two weeks.
Bush previously offered a statement on the song’s newfound success, writing on her website, “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! Because of this, Running Up That Hill is charting around the world and has entered the UK chart at No. 8. It’s all really exciting! Thanks very much to everyone who has supported the song.”
Revisit “Running Up That Hill” below.
