Kate Bush says 'Running Up That Hill' “given a whole new lease of life” thanks to Stranger Things

Kate Bush has shared a rare public statement after her 1985 single ‘Running Up That Hill’ re-entered the UK singles chart following its recent use in the fourth season of Stranger Things.

‘Running Up That Hill’ features prominently in the latest run of the popular Netflix series, which debuted late last month, and since the feature, the track has seen a 153% increase in streams to take it back into the top 10 of the Official UK Singles Chart.

Writing on her website, Bush said: “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!”

She continued: “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. I wait with bated breath for the rest of the series in July. Best wishes, Kate.”

Bush rarely allows permission for her tracks to be used in TV series, but it was revealed that she had done so in this case as she is a fan of Stranger Things. Her publisher Wendy Crowley recently said about the use of the track: “Kate Bush is selective when it comes to licensing her music and because of that, we made sure to get script pages and footage for her to review so she could see exactly how the song would be used.”

Stranger Things latest season arrives in two parts, with the second instalment of episodes set to hit Netflix on 1st July.

Revisit DJ Mag’s 2021 feature on how Kate Bush’s 1985 album ‘Hounds Of Love’ — which features ‘Running Up That Hill’ — influenced the evolution of electronic music, here.