The acclaimed third episode of The Last of Us titled "Long, Long Time" has been making the audience weep since its airing due to its heartfelt story of Bill and Frank's twenty-year span love story that ended in a shattering but still optimistic way.
The episode has been considered one of the best TV episodes in recent years and perhaps the best episode in the series so far (for some critics who have seen the entire first season). The performances of guest stars Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett have also received a lot of praise.
As suggested by the episode title, Linda Ronstadt's song of the same name was heavily featured during its 75-minute runtime as we saw Bill and Frank share a tender moment while singing the song. Later on, the track was eventually played at the end of the episode as they concluded it with a shot of the open window from the two men's bedroom.
Now, as a result of the song's prominent use in the recent episode, it has received a huge surge on Spotify. According to the streamer, after the airing of the episode, the song experienced more than a 4900% increase in its U.S. streams.
"On Sunday, January 29th, between 11PM and midnight ET, there was more than 4900% increase in U.S. streams of ‘Long Long Time’ by Linda Ronstadt," they said in their tweet.
The song's newfound popularity is being compared to the "Running Up That Hill" phenomenon last year when the Kate Bush song was prominently featured during the fourth season of the hit Netflix series Stranger Things, which also went viral after the first part of the season aired.
With the growing popularity of the series and how the song was prominently used in the episode, it's not surprising that it is charting on Spotify and perhaps on other music streaming platforms as well. It would be interesting to see if the momentum continues and will become the next TikTok trend as well.
Also Read: The Last of Us: Neil Druckmann Pokes Fun at Fans Crying Over Episode 3
New episodes of The Last of Us premiere every Sunday night on HBO. You can check more details about it here.
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