Stranger Things: Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” tops the iTunes charts

stranger things turned the iTunes charts upside down. Just two days after Season 4, Part 1 of the 1980s series began streaming on NetflixKate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) has jumped to the top – some 37 years after it was first released!

Those of you who have already started the penultimate season of the show will know that Max starts playing the song in the premiere and it only gains in importance in subsequent episodes.

“Running Up That Hill” was the lead single from the English singer/songwriter’s fifth album in 1985. dogs of love. Although it had a much deeper impact than other hits of the day – think Starship’s “We Built This City” – it received considerable airplay on pop radio and reached the Top 30 billboard‘s Hot 100. MTV also ran the video, but initially turned down the original clip, in which Bush performed an interpretative dance, in favor of her lip-synching on a BBC talk show.

“Running Up That Hill” got a second wind in 2012 when Bush re-recorded her vocals a semitone down and layered them over the backing track of the 1985 extended version of the song. This remix of the golden oldies was used during the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics, but – d’oh – not screened in the US

Bush’s classic has also been covered several times, most notably by alternative rock band Placebo, whose 2003 rendition was used in the season four premiere of That’s OK., and badass Meg Myers, whose version topped the top billboard Rock Airplay and Alternative Songs Charts in 2020.

The resurgent song is featured on stranger things‘ Season 4 soundtrack, which is fast climbing the iTunes Albums Chart (where it currently sits at #6).