It’s honestly not common for me to be writing about a song that’s currently setting singles chart records here in the U.S. and around the globe, but then again, stranger things have happened. AND STRANGER THINGS DID HAPPEN!
Maryhope and I have been fans of the original Netflix series, the brilliant STRANGER THINGS, since the show began in 2016, the very same year I started the bloggy thing here. Funny how STRANGER THINGS has inspired me to come out of my unintended blog-writing hiatus and write my first blog post in far too long. Not to mention writing about a song I already wrote about in October 2016 (https://foreveryoung80s.wordpress.com/2016/10/19/song-of-the-day-running-up-that-hill-a-deal-with-god-kate-bush-1985/), the 1985 Kate Bush classic, “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God).”
This season of STRANGER THINGS has prolly been the best in the series so far, and its continued use of “Running Up That Hill,” serving as a recurring theme / favorite song of character Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink). No spoilers here, but the use of “Running Up That Hill,” ESPECIALLY in Season Four’s “Chapter Four: Dear Billy,” is so intense and so unforgettable, that it’s prolly THE BEST use of any song in a television show ever, and certainly since the last six minutes of the 2005 SIX FEET UNDER series finale, “Everybody’s Waiting,” using Sia’s “Breathe Me.”
After watching the “Dear Billy” episode of STRANGER THINGS, I now know why Kate Bush was trending and “Running Up That Hill” was making waves on the singles charts around the globe. And, as I watched all of these countries in Europe and Australia and New Zealand showing some serious love to “Running Up That Hill,” I was hoping — finally — that the U.S. would follow suit.
“Running Up That Hill” (like parent album, HOUNDS OF LOVE; one of my all-time favorite albums) originally stopped at No. 30 in 1985 here in America. In Canada, “Running Up That Hill” peaked at No. 27. While, outside of North America, people all over the globe understood Kate Bush and the powerful “Running Up That Hill.”
In its original 1985 release, “Running Up That Hill” reached the Top 10 in (at least) Australia, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and a No. 3 peak in Kate Bush’s U.K. homeland, her highest-charting U.K. single of the 80s there.
Since STRANGER THINGS started prominently featuring “Running Up That Hill,” new singles chart records all over the world have been broken for this nearly 37-year-old gem. New peak positions have been recorded (including some No. 1 rankings), and here are just some of them (as of this writing, 14 June 2022):
- Australia (No. 6, 1985; No. 1, 2022)
- Canada (No. 27, 1985; No. 2, 2022)
- Croatia (No. 4, 2022)
- Czech Republic (No. 2, 2022)
- Denmark (No. 6, 2022)
- Finland (No. 6, 2022)
- Greece (No. 2, 2022)
- Hungary (No. 3, 2022)
- Iceland (No. 4, 2022)
- Ireland (No. 4, 1985; No. 3, 2022)
- Lithuania (No. 1, 2022)
- New Zealand (No. 26, 1985, No. 1 2022)
- Norway (No. 4, 2022)
- Singapore (No. 5, 2022)
- Slovakia (No. 2, 2022)
- Sweden (No. 1, 2022)
- Switzerland (No. 10, 1985; No. 1, 2022)
In the United Kingdom, the original 1985 release peaked at No. 3, and “Running Up That Hill” is now battling for No. 1, currently at No. 2 (behind the popular Harry Styles hit, “As It Was”). I think it has a chance to reach No. 1 in the U.K., while here in the U.S., it’s going to be a harder sell, but that doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying the ride.
Back in 1985, the BILLBOARD Hot 100 was based solely on radio airplay and record store sales. In 2022, you have all sorts of metrics that still include radio airplay, plus digital singles sales, and streaming. Not to mention the fact that ANY song from an album can chart on the Hot 100 if it’s got enough points, whereas in 1985, an actual physical single had to be released to be on the Hot 100. That’s why, in 1985, you never saw Madonna’s “Into The Groove” (from DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN) or “Back In Time” by Huey Lewis & The News (from BACK TO THE FUTURE) on the Hot 100 — because they weren’t officially released as singles, though they were radio hits.
Not too long ago, BILLBOARD finally started allowing Xmas holiday titles to re-chart on the Hot 100 at the end of every year. Wham’s No. 1 1984 U.K. hit, “Last Christmas,” for example, was never released as a single here in America, but with these re-entries every holiday season, it has become a BILLBOARD Hot 100 Top 10 hit, increasing in sales and radio airplay every Xmas. So far, “Last Christmas” has gone as high as No. 7 on the Hot 100. Pretty damn cool.
But, apart from annual holiday hits and sales surges when a recording artist passes away (i.e. Prince, Whitney Houston, David Bowie), it’s quite rare for a song that is nearly 37 years old to re-enter the Top 50 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100, let alone the Top 10.
Fleetwood Mac’s No. 1 hit from 1977, “Dreams,” saw a big resurgence because of a 2020 viral TikTok video by Nathan Apodaca, where he is lip-syncing to “Dreams” whilst on a skateboard and drinking cranberry juice. Other similar videos followed (including one by Mick Fleetwood himself), and the video’s popularity brought “Dreams” back to the Hot 100 briefly, stopping at No. 12, which was cool.
The STRANGER THINGS-inspired 2022 chart story of “Running Up That Hill,” however, is WAY cooler, not to mention unprecedented.
“Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” returned to the BILLBOARD Hot 100 on the chart dated 11 June 2022 at No. 8, a whopping 22 positions higher than its original No. 30 peak in October 1985. Even its parent album, HOUNDS OF LOVE, has reached a new position, No. 12, on Billboard’s album chart dated 18 June 2022. Phenomenal.
Here are just a few achievements of “Running Up That Hill” so far on the BILLBOARD Hot 100:
- Only the eighth song to re-enter the BILLBOARD Hot 100 IN the Top 10.
- The longest run (for a non-holiday song) from its Hot 100 debut (7 September 1985) to the Hot 100’s Top 5 (18 June 2022) in the 63-year-history of the BILLBOARD Hot 100. For those keeping score at home, that’s 36 years, nine months and two weeks. Fucking impressive, and third longest-run overall.
- “Running Up That Hill” is the first Top 5 song (overall) since 2014 by a solo singer, writer, producer, and the first song in almost 18 years by a solo female artist, writer and producer. That’s way too long.
NERDY FUN CHART FACT: Kate Bush and the Hot 100 share a birthday within a week of each other (30 July vs. 4 August, 1958)! I couldn’t believe it when I discovered that just tonight!
One of my young co-workers at the non-profit I currently work for in Central Maine has been watching STRANGER THINGS with his daughter, and he told me today that she’s been listening to Kate Bush, because of STRANGER THINGS. I think that’s so wonderful, and so incredible that a song (and artist) which didn’t get much time on American radio back in 1985 is seeing such a resurgence nearly 37 years later!
Kate Bush has never really been known to have her music in anything, whether it’s TV, films or commercials. “This Woman’s Work” was featured in the 1988 John Hughes film, SHE’S HAVING A BABY, but that was before it was featured on Kate’s 1989 album, THE SENSUAL WORLD (Kate thanked John Hughes in her album’s liner notes).
The creators of STRANGER THINGS, The Duffer Brothers, sought Kate Bush out, who was a fan of the show, and once they showed her how they wanted to use “Running Up That Hill,” Kate authorized its use. STRANGER THINGS star Winona Ryder (who got her start in the 80s, the same time period the show is set), had also apparently been giving out hints over the course of the show’s run, lobbying to use Kate Bush’s music. The response of “Running Up That Hill” has been nothing short of amazing, and has even surprised Kate herself, loving the fact her classic song is being discovered by so many young fans, as am I.
It’s weird — this new and incredible and beautiful popularity of a song from the year I graduated from high school; a song, an album, and an artist I have loved for so long FINALLY getting some long-deserved love here in the U.S., has made me so overjoyed, it’s nearly moved me to tears, I’m not kidding. Never in my lifetime did I think that I would see or hear the words “‘Running Up That Hill’ is the biggest-selling single and most-streamed song in the country, and ranks at No. 4 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100.”
I don’t know how long Kate Bush and “Running Up That Hill” will be running up the singles charts, there’s literally no playbook for this. I’m guessing it will be short-lived, but it’s truly a phenomenon I could have never imagined and yet I am so grateful for, and thanks to STRANGER THINGS, there is a thunder in my heart again for Kate Bush and “Running Up That Hill.”
FOREVER YOUNG 