Could ‘Stranger Things’ Make Prince The New Kate Bush?

The Stranger Things effect is real. Years on from a resurgence in popularity for Kate Bush, the final season of the hit Netflix show has now seen the iconic Prince experience a massive uptick thanks to his music’s appearance in the show.

Back in mid-2022, the fourth season of Stranger Things found itself at the centre of pop culture once again when it used Bush’s 1985 single Running Up That Hill as part of a pivotal scene.

Not only did the song receive a massive influx of streams, becoming the most-streamed song on Spotify and Apple Music at the time, but it was sent to the top ten in numerous countries around the world, and resulted in Bush scoring her first UK #1 since Wuthering Heights in 1978.

Even more impressive was the fact that the song appeared at all, especially given how media shy Bush is, and how reticent she remains to license her music for media use. Thankfully, Bush was a fan of the show, she gave her permission, and the rest was history.

It wasn’t the only massive musical moment in that season, with Metallica also getting the spotlight with their track Master Of Puppets.

However, this musical impact on pop culture may have almost been forgotten by some, with the three-year wait for the show’s final season feeling like an age to the majority of the show’s viewers.

Season five arrived in November, and it once again used Bush’s iconic song, pushing its streams past the 1.5 billion mark. Last week, the series finale of Stranger Things dropped, and so too did the needle on a pair of Prince songs, including Purple Rain and When Doves Cry.

Both of the tracks feature on his 1984 record Purple Rain, which is itself one of the best-selling albums of all time.

However, despite the record serving as the soundtrack to the film of the same name, fans have usually been hard-pressed to find Prince’s music used in the media, with both the singer and his estate (since his 2016 passing) being very protective of his recorded works.

As Variety reports, the usage of the songs has resulted in massive numbers for the late musician. By January 2nd, Purple Rain had received a 243% increase in global streams on Spotify, with a 577% surge amongst Gen-Z listeners around the world. Meanwhile, When Doves Cry‘s streams increased by 200% globally, with a 128% increase for Gen-Z fans.

Series creators The Duffer Brothers told Netflix’s in-house Tudum publication that the selection of these tracks was of paramount importance to the impact of the final episode, with Ross Duffer explaining they 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,” he added. “[Prince’s] estate does not generally allow that song to be licensed outside the Purple Rain movie.”

According to Matt Duffer, their success in securing the song is largely thanks to Kate Bush and the impact that Running Up That Hill had upon pop culture back in 2022. “We were told that it was a real long shot, so we just crossed our fingers,” he explained. “Thank God they agreed.”