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    22 Songs That Were Recently Brought Back To Life By TV And Movies

    From Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" to "Bloody Mary."

    We all know the impact Stranger Things had on Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), propelling the 80s hit to number 1 in several music charts nearly four decades after its original release. But which other songs were brought back to life by TV and film?

    1. Metallica — "Master of Puppets" originally released in 1986 and came back in 2022.

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    Stranger Things has a Midas touch when it comes to reviving '80s hits, with its most recent season seeing Metallica surfing a new wave of popularity alongside Kate Bush and others.

    Following the now iconic scene where Eddie Munson performs the song's guitar solo to ward off demobats, Metallica crashed into the Top 40 for the first time in 14 years.

    The band was super excited that their song had such a presence in one of the show's most powerful scenes of the season, and have even posted an Instagram remix of them playing the song in Eddie's Hellfire Club T-shirts!

    2. KISS — "I Was Made For Lovin' You" was originally released in 1979 and came back in 2020.

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    Like Stranger Things, The Umbrella Academy also has a knack for bringing back songs of yesteryear, and absolutely dominates the Top TV Song charts.

    Formulated by blending song/show data with music sales and streaming info in the period around the show or movie's release, pretty much every season of The Umbrella Academy has monopolized the list around its release.

    Following an appearance in Episode 4 of Season 2 back in July 2020, KISS's 1979 rock hit saw a sudden peak in streams (4.3 million) and 4,000 digital downloads in the following month.

    3. Seal — "Kiss From A Rose," originally released in 1994, came back in 1995.

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    When Seal originally released "Kiss From A Rose," it charted at No. 20. But following its inclusion on the soundtrack of Batman Forever the year after, it shot to number 1 and found many new fans and opportunities.

    4. Queen — "Bohemian Rhapsody," originally released in 1975, came back in 1992 and 2018.

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    It's hard to imagine hearing "Bohemian Rhapsody" and not immediately wanting to sing along, but it didn't quite get everyone bopping along upon its initial release. 

    Sure, it was popular — it made No. 9 on the charts — but nearly 20 years later, it shot up to No. 2 following the iconic car singalong scene in Wayne's World. It also got an updated music video, which ended up being one of MTV's most-played clips for the year.

    Wayne's World wasn't the only movie to bring the classic Queen song back to everyone's playlists (well, mixtapes back in the '90s for Wayne's World's reign). As you may expect, the 2018 movie biopic Bohemian Rhapsody also blasted the song back up the charts, but this time only to No. 33. 

    5. N.W.A. — "Straight Outta Compton" was originally released in 1988 and came back in 2015.

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    It's not hard to see why the lyrics of N.W.A's now cult-classic single kept the song off mainstream radio when it was released. 

    But when the movie Straight Outta Compton landed in 2015, the song of the same name reached No. 38 on the charts and secured N.W.A their very first Hot 100 listing.

    6. Nirvana — "Something In The Way," originally released in 1991, came back in 2022.

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    Nirvana's "Never Mind" is a landmine of famous hits, but one of the lesser-known songs from the album is "Something in the Way." 

    The moody track secured a spot in 2022's The Batman, perfectly matching the film's gritty aesthetics and Robert Pattinson's broody, grungy-looking take on the man in the cape. From there, the '90s track finally got its time in the spotlight, appearing in the Hot 100 in March 2022 shortly after the film's release.

    The number of on-demand streams in the U.S. increased by 734% in the first four days of The Batman's release!

    7. Aerosmith — "Dream On," originally released in 1973, came back in 2020.

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    It seems The Boys' superpowers aren't limited to the ones we see on-screen. They can also propel songs from yesteryear to soaring heights on the charts again!

    Following a feature in the fifth episode of Season 2 of the hit Amazon Prime show, Aerosmith's "Dream On" received a bump of 10.9 million US on-demand streams and 4,000 downloads in the month of the episode's release according to the Top TV Songs chart.

    Like The Umbrella Academy, The Boys is a big player in the Top TV Songs charts.

    8. U2 — "Bad," originally released in 1984, came back in 2020.

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    While The 100 received mixed reactions to its Season 7 finale, the final song it featured had a resurgence in popularity in the weeks following the episode's release.

    Originally released in 1984, U2's "Bad" had a spike in downloads and streams nearly four decades after it originally came out.

    9. The Cardigans — "Lovefool," originally released in 1996, came back in 1997.

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    The Cardigans originally charted at 21 for "Lovefool," but just a year later, Baz Luhrmann's reimagining of Romeo + Juliet brought it back to public attention, and subsequently to an impressive No. 2 on the charts for eight non-consecutive weeks.

    10. Kenny Loggins — "Danger Zone," originally released in 1986, came back in 2022.

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    The Kenny Loggins classic features in the opening sequences of both the original Top Gun movie from 1986 and its 2022 reboot, Top Gun: Maverick. 

    Following its return to the screen, the song saw a 142% climb in streams and a 235% gain in sales. It was also the soundtrack to a TikTok trend where people showed their Goose-esque mustaches!

    11. Fleetwood Mac — "Seven Wonders," originally released in 1987, came back in 2014.

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    With Fleetwood Mac star and legend in her own right Stevie Nicks appearing in American Horror Story: Coven, it was only natural that some of her songs did, too.

    A selection of her own and Fleetwood Mac's songs appeared throughout the season's run, with "Seven Wonders" featuring prominently in the season finale. Following that, the song saw a 9086% increase in downloads compared to the previous week.

    The month after the season's end also saw Fleetwood Mac's classic album, Rumours, move from No. 191 in the Billboard Top 200 to No. 59 in three weeks.

    12. Elvis Presley — "Can't Help Falling In Love," originally released in 1961, came back in 2022.

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    Much like Bohemian Rhapsody shining a light on Queen's catalog, Elvis saw its titular character's backlog get the cobwebs blown off for a modern-day resurgence.

    The soundtrack to the movie itself hit the charts, and the 2002 Elvis album, Elvis: 30 #1 Hits entered the Top 40 for the first time in 19 years. The singer's hits overall received a 67% boost in streams, with "Can't Help Falling In Love" coming out on top.

    13. Madonna — "Material Girl" was originally released in 1984 and came back in 2022.

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    "Material Girl" was a definite success upon its initial release in 1984. However, an orchestral version of the song was featured in Season 2 of Netflix's saucy drama, Bridgerton, and the song bounced back into the charts, becoming heavily shared on social media and charting at No. 1 on the TikTok US Top Tracks chart.

    14. Gavin DeGraw — "I Don't Wanna Be," originally released in 2003, came back in 2012.

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    Gavin DeGraw's "I Don't Wanna Be" will forever be entangled with the teen drama, One Tree Hill, thanks to its years as the beloved show's theme tune.

    Originally released in 2003, the song saw a resurgence in popularity in 2012 when the show's final season aired, reaching its highest position ever on the UK Singles chart.

    15. Journey — "Don't Stop Believin," originally released in 1981, came back in 2005, 2007, and 2009.

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    This Journey classic has had a TV-powered boost up the charts several times, with its most obvious one probably being in Glee in 2009.

    However, it also had a spike in popularity due to the 2007 finale of HBO's The Sopranos, which saw digital downloads soar by 482% in the week after the episode aired.

    Moving from fictional drama to real-life drama, the reality TV show, Laguna Beach, actually seems to be the show from which the Journey song's resurgence really stems. 

    In a 2005 clip that lasts a mere 40 seconds, two of the show's stars, Lauren Conrad and Stephen Colletti, mouth along to the words on a drive home. Shortly after the episode was released, the song snuck back onto the iTunes Top 10.

    16. Led Zeppelin — "Immigrant Song" was originally released in 1970 and came back in 2017.

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    While Marvel normally relies on an original score for their films, entries into the MCU such as Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy are chock-full of '70s and '80s hits which perfectly gel with the less gritty movies in the catalog.

    Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" saw a bump of nearly 200% following its appearance in Thor: Ragnarok, with a spokesperson for Spotify revealing that the song had increased in popularity by 189% worldwide and 174% in the US alone. It also climbed the charts, and in a strange turn of events, competed with the likes of Selena Gomez and Khalid in the Top 40!

    17. The Cramps — "Goo Goo Muck," originally released in 1981, came back in 2022.

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    Netflix's Wednesday has brought a few songs back from the dead, with two standing out thanks to their proximity to the show's already iconic dance scene.

    On screen, Wednesday busts a move to The Cramps' 1981 song 'Goo Goo Muck', which went from 2,500 daily streams in the US on November 23rd (pre-Wednesday release) to 134,000 daily streams in the US on November 28th (post-Wednesday release). 

    At the time of writing, 'Goo Goo Muck' has over 36 million Spotify streams and is enjoying its most popular period to date!

    18. Lady Gaga — "Bloody Mary," originally released in 2011, came back in 2022.

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    Wednesday's dance scene actually made two songs skyrocket, with Lady Gaga's 2011 "Bloody Mary" receiving the TikTok treatment. "Goo Goo Muck" was swapped for a sped-up version of "Bloody Mary" on the platform, due to the lyrics; "I'll dance, dance, dance, with my hands, hands, hands, above my head, head, head", much like Wednesday's funky dance moves!

    Since the TikTokification of the clip, the dust on Gaga's 2011 song has been blasted away by its speedy acceleration up the global charts from number 168 to number 35. Pre-Wednesday, the track had 1.8 million streams, but as of today, it has 182,845,278 streams on Spotify alone.

    19. "Red Right Hand" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, originally released in 1994, came back in 2013 onwards.

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    Being synonymous with fan favorite Peaky Blinders will boost a song, that's for sure. The 1994 cult classic has since spawned covers by everyone from Snoop Dogg to Arctic Monkeys, PJ Harvey, Iggy Pop, and Jarvis Cocker.

    Cave told Birmingham Live: "So many people come up to me and say, ‘I’m a huge fan’ and have discovered my music through Peaky Blinders."

    20. "Hallelujah" — John Cale, originally released in 1991, came back in 2001.

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    Leonard Cohen originally released the song in 1984, but with little success. It wasn't until 1991 when John Cale covered the song that it began to infiltrate popular music and start a domino effect of covers including Jeff Buckley's, which is ranked on the Rolling Stone list of 'The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time'.

    Anyway, Cale's version was included in the 2001 animation Shrek, which boosted it to widespread popularity and a surge of covers on TV talent shows. Cohen's death in 2016 saw his version finally rise to success, entering the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time ever.

    21. "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" — Edith Piaf, originally released in 1960, came back in 2020.

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    After featuring in Netflix's Emily in Paris, the Edith Piaf classic saw 687,000 US streams and 4,000 downloads, allowing the song to re-enter Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart and climb to No. 6.

    22. "Fever" — Peggy Lee, originally released in 1958, came back in 2020.

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    After appearing in the hit Anya Taylor Joy-fronted drama, The Queen's Gambit, Peggy Lee's version of Little Willie John's "Fever" climbed to 1.1 million streams and 2,000 downloads.

    There's no doubt that when a TV show or film gets the song juuust right, it really sticks with you. Which other songs have been reborn thanks to popular films and TV? Let me know in the comments!