It's official: Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill is the UK number 1

Kate Bush sits on a hotel room bed in Tokyo in 1978

(Image credit: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music)

It seemed inevitable, and yet it's still a quite frankly astonishing show of the power of the good ol' TV music sync...almost 40 years on from its original release way back in 1985, Kate Bush's unstoppable anthem Running Up That Hill has officially been crowned the UK number 1 single.

It was reported earlier in the week that the smash hit from 85's Hounds Of Love album could be in line for the top spot of the UK single charts following a change to a previous rule that was designed to prevent old songs dominating the charts through streaming. Now, sure enough, it's been confirmed that Running Up That Hill has knocked pop megastar Harry Styles' recent single As It Was from the very top of the Top 40.

Not only that, but the landmark moment also means Kate Bush has broken three records in the official UK single charts - the longest gap between Number 1 singles (her last being 1978's Wuthering Heights), the longest time taken for a song to reach number one (thirty seven years) and the oldest female artist ever to ever land a UK number 1.

The unprecedented renewed hype for Running Up That Hill comes off the back of its star turn in the latest season of Stranger Things, with Bush herself even breaking her media silence to acknowledge the amazing amount of love currently being shown for the song.

"You might’ve heard that the first part of the fantastic, gripping new series of Stranger Things has recently been released on Netflix," she wrote on her website. "It features the song, Running Up That Hill which is being given a whole new lease of life by the young fans who love the show - I love it too!"

"Because of this, Running Up That Hill is charting around the world and has entered the UK chart...it’s all really exciting! Thanks very much to everyone who has supported the song."

Merlin moved into his role as Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has previously written for the likes of Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.