Stranger Things star is number one as show’s songs shoot up chart

Stranger Things star Joe Keery, aka Djo, hit number one in the UK, while many songs from the 1980s used in the soundtrack also re-entered the charts following the series finale.

Keery plays Steve Harrington on the Netflix show and uses the name Djo when releasing music.

His song End of Beginning was first released in 2022 and previously peaked at number four in the UK in 2024, but has now finally reached the top spot.

Prince’s Purple Rain, Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill and The Police’s Every Breath You Take, all included in the soundtrack of the popular series, are also in this week’s top 20.

Djo’s song isn’t actually featured on the Stranger Things soundtrack, but it became a viral trend on TikTok after fans used End of Beginning to make edits to the final episode.

According to the UK’s Official Charts Company, the song was streamed a total of 5.4 million times in the UK this week.

The song, which was played more than 55 million times worldwide on Spotify last week, was also by far the most listened to song worldwide.

On January 2, the day after the final episode of the fifth and final season of Stranger Things was released on Netflix, Taylor Swift’s The Fate of Ophelia was dethroned and placed at Spotify’s global top spot.

The program also had a big impact on our other listening choices.

• 12 – The Prince (pictured), Purple Rain (1984)
• 14 – Kate Bush, Running for the Hill (1985)
• 17 – Cop Every Breath You Take (1983)
• 20 – Fleetwood Mac, Landslide (1975)
• 26 – Diana Ross, Upside Down (1980)
• 27 – Tiffany, I Think We’re Alone Now (1988)
• 34 – David Bowie, Heroes (1977)
• 40 – Conflict, Should I Stay or Should I Go (1982)

All of the above songs appear in the fifth season, except The Police’s Every Breath You Take, which appeared in the second season, and The Clash’s Should I Stay Or Should I Go, which appeared in the first season.

Many were prompted by a combination of their promotion on the show and TikTok, and their revival fits into a broader trend of old songs resurfacing on social media and across the internet.

“TikTok has a habit of leveraging nostalgia as a way to engage audiences,” said Sarah Kloboves of music data tracker Chartmetric.

“For older generations, familiar catalog hits engage them because they feel emotional.

“But for younger users, the release date doesn’t matter because they’re hearing everything for the first time. These older tracks ultimately appeal to a wider audience.”

Despite not being featured in the most recent Stranger Things season, The Police song has enjoyed renewed popularity around the world recently.

It was played more than any other older song last week, reaching number eight on Spotify’s weekly global chart, with over 25 million streams.

This is up from the previous peak of No. 21 on the Spotify weekly chart in mid-November.

Stranger Things isn’t the only phenomenon bringing old songs back into the charts – Zara Larsson’s 2016 hit Lush Life has climbed back to number eight on the UK’s official singles chart, thanks to a TikTok dance trend.