Kate Bush ‘Running Up That Hill’ Is The No 2 Song In Australia - Noise11.com
Kate Bush

Kate Bush

Kate Bush ‘Running Up That Hill’ Is The No 2 Song In Australia

by Paul Cashmere on June 6, 2022

in News

Kate Bush’s 1985 hit ‘Running Up That Hill’ is the number two song in Australia this week with thanks to the Netflix show ‘Stranger Things’.

‘Running Up That Hill’ registered what is considered 9182 sales in Australia which down to 7992 points for streaming but 1190 points for downloads, actual sales paid for by the fan.

With 1190 actual paid downloads, Kate Bush has the number one selling song but is pushed to number two in the chart formula which favours people just listening to Harry Styles ‘As It Was’ instead of paying for it. Styles drops to number five when you take away the unpaid streams.

Kate Bush ‘Running Up That Hill’ reached number 6 in Australia in 1985, giving this week’s chart position her highest spot for the song.

‘Running Up That Hill’ was originally titled ‘A Deal With God’. Bush was told to change the title by her label EMI who thought the word ‘God’ in a song title would have a negative impact. The song was listed on the single as ‘Running Up That Hill’ and on the album ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’.

In a 1992 interview with Richard Skinner for BBC Radio 1, Kate explained, “I was trying to say that, really, a man and a woman can’t understand each other because we are a man and a woman. And if we could actually swap each other’s roles, if we could actually be in each other’s place for a while, I think we’d both be very surprised! [Laughs] And I think it would lead to a greater understanding. And really the only way I could think it could be done was either… you know, I thought a deal with the devil, you know. And I thought, ‘well, no, why not a deal with God!’ You know, because in a way it’s so much more powerful the whole idea of asking God to make a deal with you. You see, for me it is still called “Deal With God”, that was its title. But we were told that if we kept this title that it would not be played in any of the religious countries, Italy wouldn’t play it, France wouldn’t play it, and Australia wouldn’t play it! Ireland wouldn’t play it, and that generally we might get it blacked purely because it had God in the title”.

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