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In June the whole world went mad after Kate Bush‘s song went to number one, 37 years after it was first released. The song originally appeared on Bush’s celebrated fifth album Hounds Of Love.
“But how did it happen?”, you can ask yourself.
It happened simply because the song Running Up That Hill was featured in the new TV show Stranger Things and was therefore exposed to a new generation of fans who were not there in 1985 when it was first released.
The song whom the British singer and songwriter says hadn’t listened to ‘for a long time raced up the charts this summer thanks to its pitch-perfect placement in episode 4 of Stranger Things Season 4.
Kate Bush’s touching single “Running Up That Hill” is not only the UK song of the summer but a worldwide hit.
Bush Kate’s face across time.
The song was streamed 86.6 million times between June and August, more than any other song.
Running Up That Hill was also the most downloaded song of the summer, with 42,000 sales.
Kate Bush discussed the remarkable resurgence success of her 1985 song Running Up That Hill in her first interview since the song’s return to the charts.
Speaking to Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Bush said the situation was “just extraordinary … quite shocking really, isn’t it? I mean, the whole world’s gone mad.”
The 63-year-old British singer became the oldest woman to top the UK singles chart, overtaking Cher, who was 52 when Believe hit number one in 1998.
Kate Bush achieved the longest gap between number one singles, with 44 years having elapsed since her debut, Wuthering Heights; and Running Up That Hill‘s 37-year journey to the top was the longest in chart history. Mark Savage, BBC Music Correspondent.
Running Up That Hill was at No 1 in the UK charts in June despite high-profile new releases from Drake and Beyoncé. It was at No 5 in the US, down from a peak of No 4 and which made it her first US Top 10 hit.
The song managed to beat tracks by Harry Styles, Lizzo, and George Ezra to become the UK’s song of the summer.
Britannica notes that the British singer and songwriter whose imaginative and inventive art rock was marked by theatrical sensuality, textural experimentation, and allusive subject matter made her one of the most successful and influential female musicians in Britain in the late 20th century.
