Music Industry

The recent solar eclipse was very, very good to these artists

Whenever somethings happens in the world, people feel the need to soundtrack it. And with streaming and digital downloads, that’s easier than ever.

When a total eclipse raced through the US and Canada earlier this month, people began looking for songs to commemorate the occasion. Searches for the word “eclipse” jumped by 200% on Spotify Here are the big winners.

Soundgarden, “Black Hole Sun”

The 1994 song from the Superunknown album is back at the top of Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock chart thanks to 4.2 million streams and 2.5 million spins on radio. It also sold 1,000 downloads. And those are just the US figures.

Bonnie Tyler, “Total Eclipse of the Heart”

I can’t think of another song with the phrase “total eclipse” in the title and lyrics. This 1983 hit saw a 50% streaming spike even before the eclipse. The video also saw a jump in views.

Other songs that benefited via streams

Each of these old tracks were goosed enough by the celestial event to make the Billboard charts.

  • Bill Withers, “Ain’t No Sunshine”
  • The Beatles, “Here Comes the Sun”
  • CCR, “Bad Moon Rising”
  • Pink Floyd, “Eclipse”

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 40213 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

One thought on “The recent solar eclipse was very, very good to these artists

  • My personal favourite eclipse song is by Metric and the title of the song is Eclipse. It was in the movie, Twilight.

    Reply

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