Not every pop song is a hit right out of the gate. An artist dreams of their tracks climbing the Billboard charts upon its release, but sometimes that doesn’t happen until years—or decades!—later.
Videos by American Songwriter
That’s true for several pop songs, including tracks by Taylor Swift and Lizzo. Those artists have a mix of factors including their rising fame and social media to thank for some delayed success. Meanwhile, older artists, such as Linda Ronstadt and Kate Bush, owe it all to TV shows.
Here are four pop songs that became hits years after their release.
“Cruel Summer” (Taylor Swift)
While tried and true Swifties always enjoyed this bop, it didn’t hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart until 2023, four years after its release. A lot of that is likely due to COVID-19. The song wasn’t picked as a single due to the literal cruel summer of 2020. Additionally, Swift’s planned Lover Fest, the tour on which this song would have been performed, was canceled amid the pandemic.
It rose in popularity after an appearance on The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s series premiere in 2022. Then, when the Eras Tour, kicked off in 2023, Swift selected opted to open the show with the song, ultimately leading to its chart-topping success.
“We just wanted to say thank you so much for making ‘Cruel Summer’ a Hot 100 No. 1, and it’s not even the summer anymore,” Swift said in an Instagram video with the track’s producer, Jack Antonoff, in Oct. 2023. “It’s deep fall. I’m wearing a sweater. We love you guys.”
“Long, Long Time” (Linda Ronstadt)
Linda Rondstadt’s 1970 track didn’t really make waves until more than five decades after its initial release. The resurgence came because of the song’s appearance on the HBO series The Last of Us. During a 2023 episode of the series, Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett’s performed the song together. Then, the original track was played during the episode’s closing moments.
The song’s initial release peaked at No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. After its time on the show, however, its searched were up more than 3,000% and its downloads upwards of 11,000%, Billboard reported.
“Running Up That Hill” (Kate Bush)
Like “Long, Long Time,” “Running Up That Hill” can thank a TV show for its resurgence. When Kate Bush’s 1985 track was chosen to back a major scene on Netflix’s Stranger Things, it became a bonafide hit, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“It’s been a crazy, roller coaster year for me. I still reel from the success of RUTH, being the No 1 track of this summer,” Bush wrote on her website in the wake of the track’s renewed success. “What an honour! It was really exciting to see it doing so well globally, but especially here in the UK and Australia; and also to see it making it all the way to No 3 in the US.”
“It was such a great feeling to see so many of the younger generation enjoying the song,” she added. “It seems that quite a lot of them thought I was a new artist! I love that! Again, thank you so much to everyone who supported the track and made it a hit.”
“Truth Hurts” (Lizzo)
Lizzo released “Truth Hurts” as a one-off single in 2017. Two years later it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Per Entertainment Weekly, the song’s renewed success came thanks to Lizzo’s growing fame, a TikTok trend related to the track, and an appearance in the Netflix movie Someone Great. The song’s latter use made it climb the Spotify charts, prompting its popularity continued to rise.
“WE’RE NUMBER 1. THIS IS A W FOR ALL OF US. ANYBODY WHO EVER FELT LIKE THEY VOICE WASN’T HEARD. ANYBODY WHO FELT LIKE THEY WEREN’T GOOD ENOUGH. YOU ARE. WE ARE. CHAMPIONS,” Lizzo tweeted in 2019. “I LOVE YALL 3 MUCH. LIZZBIANS UNITE.”
Photo by Emma McIntyre/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.