Kate Bush Says She's 'Blown Away' After 'Running Up That Hill' Hits 1 Billion Streams on Spotify

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"Thank you so much for listening to my music," Bush said of the song, which went viral last summer after being featured on season 4 of "Stranger Things"

Alan Davidson/Shutterstock  Kate Bush smiling in London in 2014
Alan Davidson/Shutterstock Kate Bush smiling in London in 2014

Kate Bush is celebrating after her iconic song "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" reached a milestone on Spotify following its association with season 4 of Stranger Things last year.

The 64-year-old singer-songwriter took to her official website on Wednesday to thank her listeners for streaming the track over 1 billion times on the platform.

"A billion streams!" Bush wrote. "I have an image of a river that suddenly floods and becomes many, many tributaries — a billion streams — on their way to the sea. Each one of these streams is one of you … "

She concluded, "I'm so blown away by this. Thank you so much for listening to my music and for this impossibly astonishing number. I'm so happy that you're enjoying it. With love and respect, Kate."

"Running Up That Hill" was first released in 1985 as the lead single from Bush's fifth studio album, Hounds of Love. The song peaked at No. 3 on the U.K. Singles Chart and number 30 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, becoming her biggest hit in both countries.

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<p>Courtesy of Netflix </p> Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield in season 4 of <em>Stranger Things</em> (2022)

Courtesy of Netflix

Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield in season 4 of Stranger Things (2022)

Related: Kate Bush Thanks &#39;Whole New Audience&#39; of Fans Discovering &#39;Running Up That Hill&#39; from &#39;Stranger Things&#39;

The singer-songwriter previously reflected on her career resurgence in a June 2022 interview with BBC Radio 4's Women's Hour, and praised the Netflix show's use of her song.

"I thought that the track would get some attention, but I just never imagined that it would be anything like this," she said. "It's so exciting, but it's quite shocking, really, isn't it? The whole world's gone mad."

"What's really wonderful, I think, is that this is a whole new audience who, in a lot of cases, they'd never heard of me and I love that," Bush told the BBC. "The thought of all these really young people hearing the song for the first time and discovering it is, well, I think it's very special."

The Cloudbusting crooner said she admired how Matt and Ross Duffer, the Stranger Things creators/producers, employed the song as a method for Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) to liberate herself from the lethal grip of the supernatural antagonist Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).

"I think they have put it in a really special place," Bush said. "I thought, 'What a lovely way for the song to be used in such a positive way,' as kind of a talisman, almost, for Max. I think it's very touching, actually."

Dave Hogan/Getty Kate Bush onstage with a microphone
Dave Hogan/Getty Kate Bush onstage with a microphone

Related: &#39;Stranger Things&#39; Sends Kate Bush&#39;s 1985 Song &#39;Running Up That Hill&#39; to No. 1 on iTunes Chart

Bush revealed that she loved Stranger Things from the start, and has liked seeing the actors mature on screen over time.

"It's lovely because, in a similar way to Harry Potter, where in those early films, they were just little kids," she said. "And then as the films progress it becomes heavier and darker and those little kids turn into really talented young adult actors, and you have a different connection with something that's moved through years of watching them grow."

On her website previously, Bush expressed her gratitude for the song’s revived popularity, first after the episode was broadcast and then after it hit the U.S. charts.

"The track is being responded to in so many positive ways," she wrote. "I've never experienced anything quite like this before! I just want to say a really big thank you to everyone in the US who has supported the song."

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