Kate Bush reacts to Running Up That Hill's success in rare interview

Musician Kate Bush promoting her new album 'Hounds of Love' at London Planetarium, September 9, 1985. Photo / Getty Images

Kate Bush has revealed her reaction to finding out that her 36-year-old song Running Up That Hill has returned to the top of the charts, thanks to its inclusion in the Stranger Things soundtrack.

In a rare radio interview, Bush described it as "just extraordinary" and "quite shocking" to see the song topping charts again, more than three decades after its release.

Speaking to Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, she said: "I mean, the whole world's gone mad."

EXCLUSIVE: Kate Bush: ‘The whole world’s gone mad’@katebushmusic joined @emmabarnett to discuss her song #RunningUpThatHill topping the charts 37 years after it was first released. Listen here: https://t.co/5Y8OOvrP2q pic.twitter.com/cAycJOdxBF

— BBC Woman's Hour (@BBCWomansHour) June 22, 2022

Running Up That Hill is number 1 in the UK charts this week and number 5 in the US. More than 36 years after its release, the song is now Kate Bush's first US Top 10 hit.

The newfound success comes after the song was included in the hit Netflix show Stranger Things.

The song is an integral plot motif for one of the characters, Max Mayfield, during season 4 of the show.

Thanks to Stranger Things, a new generation of listeners have now discovered the work of Kate Bush, sending the 1980s song soaring back up to the top of the charts.

This is the longest time a song has taken to reach the top of the charts, after its release nearly 37 years ago.

Bush revealed that she was already a fan of the show herself, even before she found out her song was to be part of it.

"It's such a great series. I thought that the track would get some attention, but I just never imagined that it would be anything like this," she said.

"The Duffer brothers created the series and actually we watched it from the first series onwards, so I was already familiar with the series. And I thought what a lovely way for the song to be used in such a positive way. You know, as a kind of talisman almost really for Max. And yeah, I think it's very touching, actually."

The singer also revealed that she hadn't listened to Running Up That Hill "for a really long time", adding: "I never listen to my old stuff."

Kate Bush last performed Running Up That Hill live in 2014, for her theatrical London concert series Before the Dawn.

The song is expected to remain at the top of the charts for a while and Stranger Things co-creator Matt Duffer has already said the hit will play a part in the season finale as well.

"There's an epic Kate Bush moment in the finale that we weren't expecting, that we kind of discovered as we were editing," Duffer said.

"The sequence was really cool and we were happy with it, but it was missing a little something. And I was like, 'Well, let's try Kate. Because when has Kate let us down?' And it just took it to this new height. It's arguably the most epic Kate Bush moment. It comes back in a major way."