Prince’s ‘When Doves Cry’ and ‘Purple Rain’ Spotify streams more than double following Stranger Things finale

Spotify streams of classic Prince tracks ‘When Doves Cry’ and ‘Purple Rain’ have more than doubled following the finale of hit Netflix show Stranger Things.

Both tracks were used to soundtrack crucial scenes in the finale, which aired on New Year’s Eve. According to Variety, 1984’s ‘Purple Rain’ has seen a 243% rise in global Spotify streams and a 577% boost in “global Gen Z streams specifically”.

Meanwhile, ‘When Doves Cry’, which was also released in 1984, saw global streams jump by 200%, while streams from Gen Z listeners grew by 128%. Total streams of Prince’s Spotify catalogue have almost doubled (190%) since the show aired, with an 88% rise in Gen Z streams.

In an interview with Netflix’s Tudum site, Stranger Things co-creator Ross Duffer said that the show creators had “never talked about a song choice as much as we did for that moment. What is also very exciting about it is it just has not been used. [Prince’s] estate does not generally allow that song to be licensed outside of the ‘Purple Rain’ movie.”

David Bowie, Pixies and Iron Maiden are among the other artists also featured in the soundtrack for the fifth and final series of Stranger Things.

Back in 2022, Kate Bush scored her first-ever Billboard No. 1 album for 1985’s ‘Hounds of Love’ thanks to the inclusion of its lead single, ‘Running Up That Hill’, in Stranger Things series four. The track also re-entered the UK Top 10 for the first time since its release.

Revisit our feature on how ‘Hounds of Love’ influenced the evolution of electronic music. 

Last year, Netflix announced the cancellation of a planned six-part series on Prince, but the star’s estate secured a new agreement with the streaming giant to “develop and produce a new documentary featuring exclusive content from Prince’s archive”.

Last year, Prince was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame. His sister, Sharon Nelson, attended the ceremony to accept the award.