The final chapter of Stranger Things has landed, and true to form, it didn’t just close out Hawkins, it detonated streaming numbers across decades of music history.
As the Netflix juggernaut wrapped its run on New Year’s Day, the soundtrack once again proved to be a cultural accelerant, sending classic tracks and modern artists surging in its wake.
The biggest beneficiaries on the legacy side were Prince and David Bowie, the finale featured two heavy hitters from Prince and The Revolution’s Purple Rain era, with ‘When Doves Cry’ pulling in nearly 1.8 million U.S. streams over four days, a 254% jump, while the title track ‘Purple Rain’ exploded to 4.3 million streams, marking a staggering 648% increase.
That resurgence puts the song in realistic contention for a return to the Billboard Hot 100, something it hasn’t achieved since the aftermath of Prince’s passing in 2016.
Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ also received a powerful late series placement, running over the end credits and surging 198%, climbing from under 600,000 streams to more than 1.7 million, Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Landslide’ wasn’t far behind, lifting 61% to almost four million streams.
Elsewhere, Stranger Things leaned into its long running love affair with left of centre classics, Pixies’ ‘Here Comes Your Man’ jumped 161%, Cowboy Junkies’ ‘Sweet Jane’ rose 107%, and Iron Maiden’s ‘The Trooper’ clocked a 110% boost, proving once again the show’s reach across genres.
Djo
The most dramatic post finale surge didn’t belong to a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer though, it belonged to Joe Keery, aka Djo.
Keery’s solo catalogue climbed 114% to 18.7 million streams, with digital sales spiking 364%, the bulk of that momentum came from ‘End of Beginning’, which re entered the Hot 100 at No. 16, climbing fast and threatening a first ever top 10 placement.
After five seasons of flipping nostalgia into chart heat, Stranger Things exits with one last reminder, few shows have ever bent music culture this hard.
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