Songs that climbed the charts way after their release

'The Last of Us' boosts Linda Ronstadt's 'Long Long Time' 4,900% in Spotify streams

Stars Insider

31/01/23 | StarsInsider

MUSIC Sleeper hits

One of the most amazing things about music is the way it can thread in and out of public memory or fame, changing and adapting meaning over time while also maintaining a slice of the context in which it was made for future generations to enjoy.

It’s certainly great consolation for artists who release a song or an album and don’t receive the immediate feedback they were hoping for, as the possibility always remains for their music to reenter the pop culture conversation at any point in what’s called a “sleeper hit.”

The popular HBO show 'The Last of Us' had a particularly emotional episode on January 29 which used Linda Ronstadt's 1970 song 'Long Long Time,' and that very night the song saw a 4,900% increase in streams on Spotify. According to the streaming service, the song saw the incredible spike between 11 pm and midnight ET, right after the episode aired. In 1970, the song had previously spent 12 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned Ronstadt a Grammy nomination, but the scene from 'The Last of Us,' in which two characters perform the song, may catapult it back to the top of the charts some five decades later. 

There are so many other sleeper hits and for varying reasons. Click through to see some of the slowest hits that climbed the charts way after their release.

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