Radiohead is back on the Billboard Hot 100 this week for the first time in 17 years, but it’s not with a new release. Instead, it’s with OK Computer standout “Let Down” — which debuts at No. 91 (on the chart dated Aug. 30, 2025), 28 years after its release.
The song earns the band its fourth career chart entry on the Hot 100, after “Creep” (No. 34 peak in 1993), “High and Dry” (No. 78; 1996) and “Nude” (No. 37; 2008). Unlike those earlier appearances, which were powered by a radio push and/or digital sales, “Let Down” debuts almost entirely from streaming: the song earned 5.2 million official U.S. streams in the latest tracking week (Aug. 15-21), up 4% week-over-week, according to Luminate.
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It’s not particularly uncommon in this era for catalog songs to land on the Hot 100 long after their release. Earlier this month, for example, Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” entered for the first time, 45 years after its release, following the singer’s death. In June, Coldplay’s 2000 song “Sparks” debuted after Chris Martin’s tearful live performance tied to his rumored breakup with Dakota Johnson (and it continues to chart six weeks later, ranking at No. 81 this week). And, among others, Nirvana’s 1991 Nevermind deep cut “Something in the Way” surged onto the chart in 2022 after its use in The Batman.
Those songs had clear catalysts — a major film/TV sync, a viral moment, an artist’s passing. Another common reason is annual resurgences around holidays. Radiohead’s “Let Down” debut stands out, though, in that its rise has been slow and steady, and harder to pin to one event.
The song resurfaced in 2022 after its placement in The Bear’s first-season finale, but that renewed attention wasn’t enough to help it return to any charts. This summer, it’s gradually grown on TikTok and crossed back onto Billboard’s rock charts. It first charted in 1997 after it was released as an official single, peaking at No. 29 on Alternative Airplay.
The song’s TikTok traction picked up late last year when users began pairing it with clips capturing various melancholic moments. That carried into this year during the wave of speculation about a potential TikTok shutdown, when “Let Down” became the go-to song to soundtrack future uncertainty. More recently, though, its presence has broadened — the track now surfaces across posts expressing all kinds of emotions and drama.
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Here’s a week-by-week breakdown of the song’s on-demand official U.S. streams this summer, according to Luminate:
May 30-June 5: 4 million (up 18%)
June 6-12: 4.3 million (up 8%)
June 13-19: 4.2 million (down 2%)
June 20-26: 4.2 million (down 1%)
June 21-July 3: 4.5 million (up 8%)
July 4-10: 4.5 million (up/down 0%)
July 11-17: 4.8 million (up 5%)
July 18-24: 4.9 million (up 4%)
July 25-31: 4.9 million (down 1%)
Aug. 1-7: 5 million (up 2%)
Aug. 8-14: 5 million (up/down 0%)
Aug. 15-21: 5.2 million (up 4%)
Those are solid weekly totals for a song nearly 30 years old. But what those streams tell us is that there hasn’t been a sudden viral spike, but rather a gradual climb — it’s been a rare slow burn compared to how most catalog songs have a sudden viral moment tied to their chart debuts or re-entries, and then fall away.
What’s more, “Let Down” isn’t even Radiohead’s most-streamed track right now. “Creep” raked in 7.4 million streams in the latest week, but recurrent rules keep it off the Hot 100 (since it already charted in 1993, it would need to have enough chart points to rank in the top 50 in order to return). On the Billboard Global 200, “Creep” ranks at No. 32, while “Let Down” is No. 103.
Still, the arrival of “Let Down” reinforces how deep catalogs are thriving in the streaming era. Alongside “Creep,” Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 classic “Dreams” and Goo Goo Dolls’ 1998 hit “Iris” both rank on this week’s Streaming Songs chart, all pulling in strong streaming numbers (10.5 million and 8.3 million, respectively). It’s proof that old music can still find a fresh audience decades later, and not necessarily through a viral moment.
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