Kate Bush sets THREE chart records as 'Running Up That Hill' climbs to Number 1
Incredible news
Last updated 17th Jun 2022
Kate Bush’s timeless 1985 anthem ‘Running Up That Hill’ has climbed to Number 1 on the UK singles chart today (17th June), the Official Charts Company has confirmed.
The ‘Hounds of Love’ album track features prominently in the fourth season of Netflix TV show Stranger Things and, thanks to this exposure, it’s enjoying a fresh wave of popularity with a new generation of fans.
‘Running Up That Hill’ originally reached Number 3 back in 1985 and it entered at Number 8 on the singles chart a fortnight ago before peaking at No.2 last week.
Three chart records:
Incredibly, Kate Bush has set THREE new chart records by reaching Number 1 with ‘Running Up That Hill.’
Firstly, Kate Bush boasts the longest-ever gap between Number 1 singles in Official Chart history as it’s 44 years since she reached the summit with debut single ‘Wuthering Heights.’
The previous record was the 42-year gap between ‘Green Green Grass of Home’ (1966) and charity single ‘(Barry) Islands in the Stream’ (2009) by Tom Jones.
Secondly, Kate Bush claims the record of longest time taken for a single to reach Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart with 37 years. Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ was the previous record holder at 36 years.
Thirdly, Kate Bush also becomes the oldest female artist ever to score a Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart. At 63 years and 11 months she over takes Cher who was 52 when ‘Believe’ hit the top spot in 1998.
Streaming rules:
‘Running Up That Hill’ could (and arguably should) have been Number 1 for the past few weeks ahead of Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was’ as it was the most-streamed song in the UK.
To prevent older songs from clogging up the upper echelons of the charts thanks to streaming (for example ‘Mr Brightside’ by The Killers would permanently be in the Top 40), the record industry created a rule known as "accelerated decline", which means streams of legacy tracks count for less.
‘Running Up That Hill’ is easily the UK's most-streamed song, averaging 700,000 plays per day on Spotify, and in the last few weeks those streams have counted as 3,500 "sales". This week, that figure has doubled to 7,000.
The Chart Supervisory Committee revoked the accelerated decline rule for 'Running Up That Hill' last weekend after Kate Bush’s record label EMI requested a "manual reset" to the ratio.
The manual reset can be requested by record labels "in exceptional circumstances, where a track is being scheduled for promotion."
Congratulations to Kate Bush!
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