Kate Bush’s track “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” has earned the singer three Guinness World Records, reports Far Out magazine.
According to the report, predominantly featured in the latest series of Stranger Things which introduced Bush’s work to a whole new generation, “Running Up That Hill” is perched at the top of the UK Singles Chart, and beating off competition from the likes of Harry Styles, Beyoncé and George Ezra.
Her achievement has made Bush a record-breaker, and according to Guinness World Records, the singer is now the oldest female artiste to reach number one in the UK, the longest time for a track to reach number one on the UK’s Official Singles Chart, and also the longest gap between number ones in British chart history.
Cher was previously the oldest solo female chart-topper on the UK’s singles chart thanks to “Believe” back in 1998 when she was 52 years old. The American singer has since congratulated Bush on her success, and eclipsing her feat.
“Bravo Kate. Records are meant 2 be broken‼” she continued. “Remember back in the day, when women had short sell by dates⁉ We had 2 fight our way through the testosterone curtain, & we did it so the girls who came after us could sing as long as they want to. With mega respect.”
Astonishingly, ‘Running Up That Hill’ took 36 years and 310 days to reach the top spot in the UK. The previous record was set by Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ which took 36 years and 23 days to make it to number one in January 2021 after being released in 1984.
Furthermore, the track is also Bush’s first number one single since “Wuthering Heights” in 1978. Tom Jones previously had the biggest gap between chart-topping singles with “Green, Green Grass Of Home” in 1967, and the 2009 charity single, “Barry Islands In The Stream”.
A report suggests that the singer-songwriter may earn millions in royalties thanks to a newfound interest in her music after it appeared in Stranger Things 4. Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” can be heard throughout Stranger Things 4, most significantly in the episode “Chapter Four: Dear Billy.” After the episode’s debut in May, the song shot up the music charts.
First released on Bush’s 1985 album Hounds of Love, it became the musician’s first top-10 hit in the United States 37 years later.
Music industry publication Music Business Worldwide reports that Bush is likely earning millions from the new publicity via streaming platforms like Spotify. That number is especially striking as studies of Spotify’s economy continually suggest that its algorithm primarily benefits already hugely popular artistes.
