Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill Stranger Things Season 4 Access

The Resurgence of Kate Bush: How "Running Up That Hill" Conquered the 2020s

The "Stranger Things effect" propelled the track to unprecedented heights for an older song:

: At 63, Kate Bush became the oldest female artist to ever score a No. 1 single in the UK, surpassing a record previously held by Cher.

The song reaches its peak emotional resonance during the episode "Dear Billy," where Max’s friends play the track through her Walkman to anchor her to reality while she is under the psychic control of the villain . The sequence, which depicts Max running toward safety as the synth-heavy anthem swells, became an instant hallmark of the series. Music supervisor Nora Felder noted that the lyrics about making a "deal with God" to swap places perfectly captured Max’s isolation and her desperate need for connection. Shattering Global Records

: The song saw an 8,000%–8,700% surge in streams immediately following the season's release. By June 2023, it surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify , becoming the first solo recording by a female artist from the 1980s to reach that milestone.

In Stranger Things 4 , the song is not merely background music; it is a vital plot device. It serves as the favorite song of (played by Sadie Sink), who uses it to cope with grief following her brother Billy's death.

: In the UK, it reached No. 1 in June 2022, setting a record for the longest time (44 years) for a single to reach the top spot after its original release.

: While it peaked at No. 30 in the US in 1985, the 2022 resurgence saw it climb all the way to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.