Kate Bush celebrates ‘whole new lease of life’ after song featured on ‘Stranger Things’

The newfound success of “Running Up That Hill” was hard to ignore for Kate Bush, who is celebrating its rise up the charts thanks to the newest season of “Stranger Things.”

“Running Up That Hill” was originally released by Bush in 1985 and peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. But when the first part of the fourth season of “Stranger Things” was released on Netflix on May 27, the song was featured heavily, creating a new wave of Bush fans.

The song is used as a recurring theme for character Max Mayfield and is played during the season’s fourth episode, titled “Dear Billy.”

As of Monday, June 6, it’s the No. 1 song on the iTunes Top 100 USA chart. On Spotify, it’s the No. 4 song in the world in the past week with more than 32 million streams.

Bush said in a statement on her website the song has been “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,” the British singer said. “It’s all really exciting! Thanks very much to everyone who has supported the song.”

Winona Ryder, among the stars of “Stranger Things,” has nudged producers for years to include Bush in the 1980s-based series.

“I’ve been obsessed with her since I was a little girl,” she told USA Today. “I’ve also for the last seven years been dropping hints on set wearing my Kate Bush T-shirts.”

With 268.79 million hours viewed in its first three days, the new season of “Stranger Things” was Netflix’s most-watched English language TV series debut of all time.

The final two episodes come out July 1. Bush is among the millions of people eagerly awaiting its release.

“I wait with bated breath for the rest of the series in July,” Bush said.

This story was originally published June 6, 2022 at 8:55 AM with the headline "Kate Bush celebrates ‘whole new lease of life’ after song featured on ‘Stranger Things’."