Kate Bush 'Hounds of Love' Success: Singer Finally Lands First No. 1 Album

After more than forty years, Kate Bush has finally scored her first Billboard No. 1 album - but it is not for an album she just released recently.

Thanks to Netflix's hit television show "Stranger Things," Kate Bush's 1985 album "Hounds of Love" finally landed atop a Billboard Album chart.

This is because its lead single "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" has returned from oblivion after being used in the show.

The now-viral song has surged up the charts a week after the show's season four debuted worldwide.

Kate Bush Scores First #1 Billboard Album With 'Hounds of Love'

In a June 11-dated chart, Billboard reports that 'Hounds of Love' has ranked No. 1 on the Top Alternative Albums chart.

Luminate reported that the album has earned 17,000 equivalent album units with a surge of 2,086% - landing it atop the charts on the May 27 - Jun 2 tracking week.

This is not the first time that Kate Bush's album reached the Top Alternative Album charts. In 2011, her "50 Words for Snow" peaked at No. 9 while "The K Fellowship Presents: Before the Dawn" rocketed at No. 5 in 2016.

The same album has also entered No. 4 of the Top Rock Albums in the same week, surpassing his personal best for "Dawn" which only charted at No. 11.

Meanwhile, "Hounds of Love" climbed two spots higher than its initial ranking in 1985 at No. 30 at the Billboard 200 charts, scoring a tie at No. 28 with her own "The Red Shoes" in 1993. This is so far the highest placement of Bush's work on the all-genre charts.

While many would attribute the success of the 1985 album to "Running Up That Hill," the other songs in the album also gained streaming and sales as new listeners either discovered the old album or returned to it again.

Aside from the now-viral song, which generated 17.5 million US streams, the second song that gained the most streams was "Cloudbusting." The track earned 297,000 streams with an upward trend of 596% week-over-week.

"Running Up That Hill" was made popular again, after "Stranger Things" used it in one of the season's most climactic scenes. Sadie Sink's character, "Max Mayfield," was under the trance possession of the series' main antagonist, "Vecna."

In an attempt to step away from the trance, Mayfield's friends put up her favorite song - "Hill" - to save her - which followed a near-death experience sequence.

Tags

Kate Bush, Stranger Things