‘Stranger Things’ Songs From ABBA, Diana Ross, Kate Bush (Again) and More All Up Double or Triple Following Season Five Premiere

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.

This week: The biggest synch show of the 2020s is back at full power with a new spate ’70s and ’80s classics to boost, while a dance challenge puts a Louisiana rapper on the national radar and an ’00s alt-folk duo sees a maybe-seasonal revival.

Feeling ‘Stranger’ Every Day: Season 5 of Netflix Smash Nets Huge Gains for Soundtrack Songs

It’s been about as highly anticipated as any season of television this decade, and as of Thanksgiving, it’s officially underway: Stranger Things, the smash Netflix sci-fi series, kicked off its fifth and final season with its first four episodes. And as has always been the case for the ‘80s-set show, music of the time period plays a big part in the action — and fans have updated their playlists and streaming habits accordingly. 

Though none of the newly featured songs are off to the blockbuster-type start enjoyed by songs by Kate Bush and Metallica in previous seasons, the first wave of Stranger Things S5 has already resulted in massive gains for nearly every song featured in its first four episodes. The biggest percentage bump is for Diana Ross’ late-disco classic “Upside Down” — played as a coded radio transmission in episode one — which is up 373% to 953,000 official on-demand streams over the first four tracking days of this charting week (Nov. 28-Dec. 1) compared to the same period the week before, according to early data provided by Luminate. 

Other songs more than doubling in streams thanks to their Stranger Things usage include ABBA’s ‘70s pop gem “Fernando” (up 206% to 615,000 streams) and Tiffany’s mall-pop staple cover of Tommy James’ “I Think We’re Alone Now” (up 289% to 1.3 million). And it’s not just the period-appropriate soundtrack cuts surging: Michael Jackson’s 1972 version of “Rockin’ Robin,” used as theme music for Maya Hawke’s Robin character’s radio show, is up 218% to 187,000 streams, while The Chordettes’ episode two-ending 1954 pop smash “Mr. Sandman” rises 173% to 564,000 streams. 

And of course, the signature Stranger Things synch of them all is back: Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” favorite song of Sadie Sink’s Max character, recurs multiple times in the early parts of Season Five. The song may not yet be on its way to threatening a re-charting akin to the 2022 run that brought it to the Hot 100’s top five for the first time — though it does re-enter Hot Rock & Alternative Songs at No. 15 this week (chart dated Dec. 6) — but fans certainly aren’t sick of it yet, as “Hill” grows 110% to 2.7 million streams over the same period. And with the daily numbers still going up, and the rest of Season Five arriving later this month, who knows? Stranger Things have happened. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER

H3adband’s “Boo” Rides Dance Challenge to Streaming Success 

Shortly before Halloween (Oct. 14), Baton Rouge rapper H3adband dropped the aptly titled “Boo,” a catchy new-age Louisiana rap anthem complete with spooky synths. By Oct. 29, a dance trend created by TikTok user @josh.diggss, who’s created several dance challenges over the years, helped the song truly take off on streaming. 

User @josh.diggss’ first “Boo” dance clip (with user @zeromeech) garnered over 350,000 likes, and the challenge has since been joined by Savannah James, DaBaby, and Dancing With the Stars pro Valentin Chmerkovskiy. H3adband’s original TikTok sound tied to “Boo” currently plays in over 103,000 posts, while the official “Boo” sound plays in over 2,300 posts. Between the dance trend and listeners noting the similarities between H3adband’s and NBA YoungBoy’s voices, “Boo” has been booming on streaming. 

“Boo” has risen 1,882% in official on-demand U.S. streams over the past three weeks, according to Luminate. During the week of Nov. 7-13, “Boo” earned just under 175,000 streams, marking a 260% boost from the 48,000 streams it pulled the week prior (Oct. 31-Nov. 6). By the week of Nov. 14-20, streams for “Boo” rose a further 160%, and the following week (Nov. 21-27), the track logged 960,000 streams, up 111%. 

With a dance trend embraced across demographics and a sound that’s in tune with one of the year’s buzziest rappers, the sky’s the limit for H3adband and “Boo.” — KYLE DENIS

She & Him Get In on Sentimental Season With Viral ‘I Thought I Saw Your Face Today’ Revival

She & Him, the alt-folk duo consisting of cross-platform star Zooey Deschanel and acclaimed singer-songwriter M. Ward, never had major chart hits upon their late-’00s breakout, but became a cultural fixture of the time period with their wispy ballads and stripped-down covers of pop classics. And though the pair did release a full-length holiday favorite in 2011’s A Very She & Him Christmas set, it’s a song from one of their strictly secular works that’s finding renewed life as the Yuletide season approaches this year. 

“I Thought I Saw Your Face Today,” a piano ballad from 2008 debut set Volume One, has gone viral on TikTok through a series of edits setting the emotional post-breakup lament against famous movie and TV clips, nature montages and even sports highlight montages, with users unable to resist its sentimental undertow. (“Everyb gangster till they listen to sum like this” reads the top comment on the song’s official YouTube page, courtesy of @gav.on.rs.s.) 

Consequently, the song is scaling the streaming charts as few non-holiday songs generally do this time of year. It’s up to over 2.5 million weekly official on-demand U.S. streams as of the chart week ending Nov. 27, according to Luminate, and even bounded into the top 100 of Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA for Monday (Dec. 1). If it keeps rising at this rate — and the actual holiday songs don’t crowd it out too much — She & Him could contend for the first Hot 100 hit of its career, and already has a first-ever career appearance on Hot Rock and Alternative Songs this week (with a No. 20 debut) for its efforts. – AU

Viral Funeral Performances Lift Neace Robinson’s ‘I Wish That Heaven Had a Phone’ Out of Obscurity 

Last month (Nov. 2), Louisiana singer-songwriter Neace Robinson posted a passionate rendition of her somber 2018 tribute to the dearly departed, “I Wish That Heaven Had a Phone.” The clip, in which she belts the song at a funeral, quickly went viral on TikTok, earning over 31.5 million views. The accompanying TikTok sound currently boasts over 78,000 posts, while the official “Heaven” sound plays in 700 different posts. As additional videos of performances at different funerals and family gatherings started to make the rounds, TikTok soon realized that Robinson frequently got booked to sing “Heaven” locally. 

 The song’s melody and unique performance venues were part of the initial attraction, but the “1, 2… 1, 2, 3, release ‘em” ad lib before the chorus emerged as the true meme. Now used in videos joking about “releasing” students on holiday break and “releasing” semester-destroying final grades, “Heaven” is inescapable on TikTok. According to Luminate, “Heaven” earned 18,800 official on-demand U.S. streams during the week of Nov. 14-20, according to Luminate, marking a whopping 874% increase from the 1,900 official streams it earned the week prior (Nov. 7-13). By the week of Nov. 21-27, “Heaven” leapt a further 339% to over 82,500 official streams. 

Easily the most-consumed song of her recording career so far, Robinson has stumbled into her first major breakout moment with the R&B and gospel-infused “Heaven.” — KD