Kate Bush hits No 1 with 37-year-old single
Kate Bush’s single Running Up That Hill has reached number one 37 years after it was first released, breaking a string of records. The 1985 song received renewed popularity after featuring prominently in hit Netflix series Stranger Things, and recent sales have pushed it to the top of the UK charts. This gives Bush the unusual honour of the longest time taken for a single to reach number one, but also makes the 63-year-old the oldest female artist to reach the top.
KATE BUSH’S single Running Up That Hill has reached number one 37 years after it was first released, breaking a string of records.
The 1985 song received renewed popularity after featuring prominently in hit Netflix series Stranger Things, and recent sales have pushed it to the top of the UK charts after almost four decades.
This gap gives Bush the unusual honour of the longest time taken for a single to reach number one, but also makes the 63-year-old singer the oldest female artist to reach the top the singles chart.
Bush has also set a new record for the longest period between two number ones, with a gap of 44 years standing between her 1978 hit Wuthering Heights and her current chart-topper, which peaked at number three in the UK chart when it was first released in 1985.
Martin Talbot, chief executive of the Official Charts Company, said it had been fantastic to see the singer top the UK singles chart, “breaking a slew of records into the bargain”.
“The way that a new generation of music fans have taken her classic track to their hearts really does cement Kate’s position as an all-time great.”
In becoming the oldest female singer to reach number one in the UK, Bush has broken the record held by Cher, who was 52 when she had a top seller with in 1998.
Her gap between hits surpasses the record set by Sir Tom Jones, who had a 42-year divide between Green, Green Grass of Home (1966) and charity single (Barry) Islands in the Stream (2009).
Bush said she was “overwhelmed by the scale of affection” for her song. In a statement she said: “I have to admit I feel really moved by it all.”