Stranger Things to Wednesday: Top 15 songs revived by film and TV
A plethora of lucky tracks have hit the jackpot decades after their debut thanks to films and TV shows, with TikTok as a powerful catalyst in propelling songs from yesteryear to unprecedented heights.
Inspired, the experts at BonusFinder examined search volumes for a series of coveted soundtracks, both a month before and after the release of the associated movie or series, to unveil the songs that enjoyed the biggest comeback, and the tunes reaping the most benefits by delving into potential royalty earnings on Spotify.
15 oldies making the BIGGEST comeback thanks to film and TV
| Rank | Song | Artist | Movie/TV show | No. of TikTok videos | Global Monthly Search Volumes Before Movie/TV | Global Monthly Search Volumes After Movie/TV | Search increase (%) |
| 1 | Goo Goo Muck (1981) | The Cramps | Wednesday (2022) | 243,042 | 740 | 15,100 | 1,940.54% |
| 2 | Red Right Hand (1994) | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | Peaky Blinders (2013) | 57,630 | 670 | 2,600 | 288.06% |
| 3 | Running Up That Hill (1985) | Kate Bush | Stranger Things S4 (2022) | 2,760,700 | 24,400 | 51,600 | 111.48% |
| 4 | Material Girl (1985) | Madonna | Bridgerton (2022) | 1,328,600 | 76,400 | 132,300 | 73.17% |
| 5 | Bloody Mary (2011) | Lady Gaga | Wednesday (2022) | 74,100 | 1,600 | 2,400 | 50.00% |
| 6 | Straight Outta Compton (1988) | N.W.A | Straight Outta Compton (2015) | 15,328 | 6,600 | 9,400 | 42.42% |
| 7 | Head Like a Hole (1989) | Nine Inch Nails | Black Mirror (2019) | 4,446 | 4,500 | 5,700 | 26.67% |
| 8 | Something In The Way (1991) | Nirvana | The Batman (2022) | 253,100 | 30,000 | 37,300 | 24.33% |
| 9 | Seven Wonders (1987) | Fleetwood Mac | American Horror Story: Coven (2014) | 11,944 | 540 | 620 | 14.81% |
| 10 | Immigrant Song (1970) | Led Zeppelin | Thor: Ragnarok (2017) | 128,372 | 34,300 | 37,800 | 10.20% |
| 11 | Bad (1984) | U2 | The 100 (2020) | 871 | 5,600 | 6,100 | 8.93% |
| 12 | Murder On The Dancefloor (2001) | Sophie Ellis-Bextor | Saltburn (2023) | 411,300 | 11,500 | 12,000 | 4.35% |
| 13 | Dream On (1973) | Aerosmith | The Boys (2020) | 84,400 | 97,200 | 99,300 | 2.16% |
| 14 | Danger Zone (1986) | Kenny Loggins | Top Gun: Maverick (2022) | 387,200 | 49,400 | 50,400 | 2.02% |
| 15 | Crash into Me (1996) | Dave Matthews Band | Lady Bird (2017) | 540 | 7,300 | 7,400 | 1.37% |
For the complete data, please click here.
Topping the list with a staggering 1,940% increase in searches is The Cramps’ “Goo Goo Muck” (1981), which catapulted to stardom after being used as the backdrop for a spooky dance choreography in Netflix’s 2022 smash-hit Wednesday. The ‘80s tune quickly turned into a huge TikTok sensation, experiencing a meteoric rise from a mere 300 videos to an astonishing 200,000 in a single month.
In second is Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand” (1994) which found fame as the theme song of the BBC series Peaky Blinders, receiving a 288% bump in searches a month after the programme’s premiere.
Resurrected by one of Netflix’s biggest hits, Stranger Things, the English singer-songwriter Kate Bush has been struck by luck in 2022 when her 1985 track “Running Up That Hill” took center stage in an iconic scene where Max frantically fled the Upside Down villain Vecna. The song reclimbed the charts nearly four decades after its release, successfully attracting a new generation of listeners with a 111% jump in searches, ranking third in the study.
Madonna’s “Material Girl” (1985) comes fourth with searches escalating by a notable 73% after being given a fresh orchestral twist in the second season of Netflix’s royal hit Bridgerton (2022). Meanwhile, Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary” rounds off the top five after a sped-up version went viral on TikTok with fans adopting Wednesday’s dance to the 2011 pop song, despite not actually being featured in the show.
Despite a modest 4.35% uptick in search volumes, Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor” (2001) surging popularity is indisputable. The song’s resurgence is evident on TikTok, with a huge spike in users recreating Barry Keoghan’s dance moves as video count soared to 411,300 on the platform, a significant leap from just 571 the day before the movie release.
Which songs rake in the most cash from Spotify?
| Rank | Song | Artist | Movie/TV show | Number of Spotify plays | Estimated royalty earnings (£) |
| 1 | Bohemian Rhapsody (1975) | Queen | Bohemian Rhapsody | 2,367,978,006 | 8,145,844 |
| 2 | Running Up That Hill (1985) | Kate Bush | Stranger Things (S4) | 1,138,452,361 | 3,916,276 |
| 3 | Dream On (1973) | Aerosmith | The Boys | 1,041,547,090 | 3,582,922 |
| 4 | I Was Made For Lovin’ You (1979) | Kiss | The Umbrella Academy | 890,549,654 | 3,063,491 |
| 5 | Immigrant Song (1970) | Led Zeppelin | Thor: Ragnarok | 695,752,111 | 2,393,387 |
| 6 | Danger Zone (1986) | Kenny Loggins | Top Gun: Maverick | 482,721,765 | 1,660,563 |
| 7 | Bloody Mary (2011) | Lady Gaga | Wednesday | 464,007,631 | 1,596,186 |
| 8 | Something In The Way (1991) | Nirvana | The Batman | 421,551,574 | 1,450,137 |
| 9 | Material Girl (1985) | Madonna | Bridgerton | 407,174,998 | 1,400,682 |
| 10 | Straight Outta Compton (1988) | N.W.A | Straight Outta Compton | 350,370,230 | 1,205,274 |
For the complete data, please click here.
Featured in the musical biopic of the same name, the top-grossing old song on Spotify is “Bohemian Rhapsody” (1975), potentially bagging the British rock legends Queen a whopping £8,145,844 in royalties.
In second place is “Running Up That Hill” which has generated £3,916,276 for Kate Bush. Revived by the hit Amazon Prime show The Boys (2020), iconic power ballad “Dream On” (1973) comes third amassing over 1 billion streams so far, amounting to an estimated £3,582,922 in royalties for the American rock band Aerosmith.
