BACK WITH A BANGER
Take your time. MARION McMULLEN looks at songs with comeback appeal
1 Kate Bush now holds the record for the longest time taken for a single to reach number one. Her song Running Up That Hill topped the UK chart after 37 years. Originally released in 1985 as the lead track on her Hounds Of Love album, the track has had a global resurgence in popularity after featuring in the fourth series of Stranger Things. Kate said: “I have to admit I feel really moved by it all.” 2
The longest-running sleeper hit in the UK was previously Last Christmas by Wham! – it topped the Official Singles Chart in 2021, 36 years after its release. Andrew Ridgeley said it was a “fitting tribute” to bandmate George Michael’s “songwriting genius”. 3 Tony Christie first released (Is This The Way To) Amarillo in 1971, but it became a bigger hit 34 years later when comedian Peter Kay featured it as the 2005 single for Comic Relief. The record topped the charts in the UK for seven weeks. Tony later said: “I always finish my show with it because it’s one of those songs… how can you follow it? It’s just that kind of song.” 4
Nina Simone’s hit My Baby Just Cares For Me was recorded for her debut album Little Girl Blue in 1958 and reached number five in the UK charts 29 years later after it appeared in an advert for Chanel No. 5 perfume.
5 Louis Armstrong recorded We Have All The Time In The World for the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It became a number three chart hit 25 years later when it was featured in a 1994 advert for Guinness.
6
Rick Astley enjoyed international chart success in 1987 with the Stock Aitken Waterman track Never Going To Give You Up. The song was back 21 years later in 2009, when “Rickrollling” – a
‘bait and switch’ viral trend saw links direct people to Rick’s video online – and Rick was named the winner of the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Act Ever. 7
Unchained Melody was a hit for the Righteous Brothers in 1965, but 25 years later it also became the bestselling single of
1990 when it featured in the film Ghost starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore.
8 The Proclaimers brought out I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) in 1988 and it featured on their Sunshine On Leith album, but twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid saw the song go to No1 in the UK 19 years later when Peter Kay and Matt Lucas appeared in a 2007 Comic Relief video featuring the track.
9
Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody first topped the charts in 1975, and went to No1 again 16 years later, in 1991, following the death of singer Freddie Mercury at the age of 45. He revealed he was HIV positive the day before his death. 10
One Day In Your Life was recorded by Michael Jackson for his 1975 Motown album Forever, Michael, but he had to wait for six years before it became his first UK number one when it was released as a single in 1981.