Running Up That Hill spends most of its existence as a respected but largely forgotten deep cut — a 1985 Kate Bush single that peaked modestly on the charts before fading into music-history footnote status. Then Stranger Things made it the literal difference between life and death for one of its central characters, and the song became one of the biggest musical comebacks in streaming history.
Table of Contents
- How Running Up That Hill became part of Max Mayfield’s story
- The scene that turned Running Up That Hill into a phenomenon
- Why Running Up That Hill worked so well for that moment
- Kate Bush’s own reaction to Running Up That Hill’s resurgence
- Frequently asked questions about Running Up That Hill
How Running Up That Hill became part of Max Mayfield’s story
Running Up That Hill is established as Max Mayfield’s favorite song early in Stranger Things season 4, heard through her Walkman as she processes grief and isolation following Billy Hargrove’s death the previous year. The show uses the song throughout the season’s early episodes as a quiet character detail — something Max reaches for when she wants to shut the world out, a small, private comfort in a life that’s otherwise fallen apart.
That detail becomes far more than a character quirk in episode 4, “Dear Billy,” when Max becomes trapped in one of Vecna’s death trances. As her friends realize what’s happening, Dustin remembers Max’s attachment to the song and rushes to play it for her — giving her something to mentally grab onto and use to physically run from Vecna’s mindscape back to reality.
The scene that turned Running Up That Hill into a phenomenon
Running Up That Hill’s use in “Dear Billy” quickly became one of the most discussed sequences in the show’s history, and the reaction extended far beyond Stranger Things’ own fanbase. Within a week of the episode’s release, Billboard reported the song had seen a 9,900% spike in U.S. Spotify streams, jumping from daily plays in the 20,000s to millions of streams per day.
That surge translated directly into chart performance. Running Up That Hill re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 8 before climbing to No. 4 — significantly higher than its original 1985 peak of No. 30 in the U.S. In the U.K., the song did something no single had ever managed before: it reached No. 1 in June 2022, 37 years after its release, setting the record for the longest gap ever between a single’s release and its chart-topping debut.
“It’s all really exciting,” Kate Bush wrote of the song’s resurgence. “Thanks very much to everyone who has supported the song.”
Why Running Up That Hill worked so well for that moment
Part of what made Running Up That Hill resonate so strongly with the “Dear Billy” sequence was how directly its lyrical content mirrored the show’s themes. The song deals with the desire to understand another person completely — to trade places with them and see the world through their eyes — which lines up naturally with Max’s isolation and her friends’ desperate effort to reach her from outside her own broken mental state.
The Duffer Brothers have spoken about how deliberately the sequence was built around the song rather than the song simply being dropped into an existing scene, crafting the pacing and editing of Max’s escape specifically to match its rhythm and emotional swell. That care is part of why the moment landed as more than just a needle drop — it became, structurally and emotionally, one of the season’s defining scenes.
Kate Bush’s own reaction to Running Up That Hill’s resurgence
Kate Bush, known for rarely making public statements, broke that pattern twice during the show’s fourth season to address Running Up That Hill’s unexpected new life. After the first volume of episodes premiered, she wrote on her website that the song was “being given a whole new lease of life by the young fans who love the show,” adding simply, “I love it too!”
She returned with a longer statement after watching the season’s finale, revealing she’d previously only seen the specific scenes using her song and hadn’t known where the larger story was headed. “I’ve just watched the last two episodes of Stranger Things and they’re just through the roof,” she wrote, expressing amazement at the response. The song’s momentum continued well beyond that season — it surpassed one billion Spotify streams by mid-2023, and returned to Billboard’s Top TV Songs chart at No. 1 once again following its continued use throughout the show’s fifth and final season.
For more on the character whose ordeal made this needle drop so essential, Read more: Max Mayfield’s Fate covers her coma, her recovery, and her ending. And for the entity Max was fighting to escape in that scene, Read more: Vecna’s True Identity breaks down his full origin story.
Billboard’s coverage of the song’s chart performance and Kate Bush’s public reaction goes deeper into the numbers behind the resurgence, and it’s worth reading in full here.
Stranger Things 5 | Official Trailer | Netflix
Frequently asked questions about Running Up That Hill
Why is Running Up That Hill important in Stranger Things? Running Up That Hill is established as Max Mayfield’s favorite song and becomes the key that allows her to mentally escape Vecna’s death trance in the season 4 episode “Dear Billy.”
Did Running Up That Hill reach number one because of Stranger Things? Yes. Running Up That Hill reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart in June 2022 following its use in Stranger Things, 37 years after its original 1985 release, setting a chart record for the longest gap to a first number-one hit.
What did Kate Bush say about Running Up That Hill’s use in Stranger Things? Kate Bush publicly praised the show, writing on her website that the song was being given “a whole new lease of life” by fans and later expressing amazement after watching the season’s finale.
How much did streams of Running Up That Hill increase after Stranger Things season 4? Streams of Running Up That Hill increased by roughly 9,900% in the U.S. within days of the episode “Dear Billy” airing, according to Billboard and Luminate data.
Is Running Up That Hill used again in Stranger Things season 5? Yes. Running Up That Hill continued to appear throughout season 5, driving the song back to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top TV Songs chart following the season’s premiere.
