The Last of Us Provides its Own Stranger Things' Running Up That Hill

Soundtracks are undeniably important in stirring any narrative. When Stranger Things used Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill in one of its most affecting scenes, fans were mesmerized and managed to put the song on current music charts despite it being released way back in the 1980s. As the most anticipated video game adaptation, The Last of Us, premiered on Sunday, it introduced another anthem that viewers may find appealing, similar to how they felt for Stranger Things' Running Up That Hill.

In its premiere, The Last of Us scored over 4 million viewers, making it the second-biggest viewership since 2010. As it delights viewers, the zombie drama adaptation may be on the verge of another breakthrough as it sparks another classic song revival with Depeche Mode's Never Let Me Down, which plays on the radio at the end of episode 1, implying that something disastrous is about to happen next.

As of this writing, Never Let Me Down has already emerged in Google Trends. Fans suspect that The Last of Us is shadowing Stranger Things, given that the Netflix series managed to rise in the audience ranking because of how invested they got in the soundtrack that was used in one of the episodes.

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Despite making waves in the charts at the time when it peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 when it was released in 1985. It was only in 2022, with the help of Stranger Things, that Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) rose into the Billboard Top 10, with 465 million global streams and counting.

Now that video edits of Never Let Me Down are already filling Twitter threads and TikToks, all against the backdrop of The Last of Us, it might have the same chance of success as Stranger Things and become one of the memorable soundtracks of 2023.

Episode one of The Last of Us is currently available on HBO Max, with the second episode dropping on January 22.

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