- Source
- Google search interest, US web search, daily.
- Queries
- one keyword per song.
- Window
- about 4 months before each trigger to 4–8 months after.
We measured US Google search interest for 13 older songs before and after the moment that revived them, from Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) to Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). Nine of the 13 jumped from a near-zero baseline to a peak at least 100 times higher. Sync placements in TV and film hit fast: "Running Up That Hill" peaked 4 days after Stranger Things season 4 dropped, and "Master of Puppets" peaked 2 days after its episode. Social-driven revivals built more slowly but stuck around. Lady Gaga's "Bloody Mary", revived by a TikTok dance to Wednesday, was still at 36% of its peak 3–4 months later. "Running Up That Hill" had faded to 6% by then.
Table: revival lift and staying power (US Google search interest, daily)
| Song | Trigger | Type | Lift vs prior baseline | Days to peak | Interest 30–60 days later (% of peak) | 90–120 days later |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Running Up That Hill (Kate Bush) | Stranger Things S4 (May 27, 2022) | sync | 100x+ | 4 | 23% | 6% |
| Master of Puppets (Metallica) | Stranger Things S4 Vol. 2 (Jul 1, 2022) | sync | 100x+ | 2 | 15% | 4% |
| Murder on the Dancefloor (Sophie Ellis-Bextor) | Saltburn (Dec 22, 2023) | sync | 100x+ | 16 | 62% | 18% |
| Bloody Mary (Lady Gaga) | Wednesday dance trend (Nov 2022) | TikTok | 100x+ | 18 | 51% | 36% |
| Goo Goo Muck (The Cramps) | Wednesday (Nov 23, 2022) | sync | 100x+ | 14 | 44% | 10% |
| Come and Get Your Love (Redbone) | Guardians of the Galaxy (Aug 1, 2014) | sync | 100x+ | 9 | 29% | 20% |
| Unwritten (Natasha Bedingfield) | Anyone But You (Dec 22, 2023) | sync | 100x+ | 97* | 28% | 21% |
| Cruel Summer (Taylor Swift) | Eras Tour launch (Mar 17, 2023) | tour | 100x+ | 92* | 13% | 42% |
| Bye Bye Bye (NSYNC) | Deadpool & Wolverine (Jul 26, 2024) | sync | 80x | 5 | 39% | 22% |
| Separate Ways (Journey) | Stranger Things S4 trailer (May 2022) | sync | 80x | 36 | 17% | 2% |
| Mary on a Cross (Ghost) | TikTok/Stranger Things edits (~Sep 2022) | TikTok | 37x | 9 | 25% | 3% |
| Dreams (Fleetwood Mac) | TikTok skateboard video (Sep 25, 2020) | TikTok | 33x | 15 | 16% | 6% |
| Hooked on a Feeling (Blue Swede) | Guardians of the Galaxy (Aug 1, 2014) | sync | 10x | 2 | 21% | 17% |
\* Delayed peaks:
- "Unwritten" peaked in late March 2024, about three months after the film opened. That fits the film's long theatrical run, its home release and the viral end-credits singalong.
- "Cruel Summer" peaked in mid-June 2023, about when it was announced as a single.
"Hooked on a Feeling" and "Dreams" show smaller lifts because they already had steady baseline search.
What it means
Every song on these charts started as a hook someone wrote down. Anyone who wants to make the TikTok version of a track can do it in one step with a sped up song maker. The mashup nobody has made yet is a few clicks away with an AI song remixer.
Method
- Source: Google search interest, US web search, daily.
- Queries: one keyword per song.
- Window: about 4 months before each trigger to 4–8 months after.
- Baseline: the mean index from 120 to 15 days before the trigger.
- Lift: peak (100) divided by the baseline, with the baseline floored at 1, so "100x+" means at least 100x.
- Trigger dates: release, premiere or viral-moment dates.
Cite and download
Free to use and cite with a link back to this page.
aisong.lol Research. (2026). The comeback chart: old songs revived by TV, film and TikTok, and the search spikes behind them. aisong.lol. https://aisong.lol/research/the-comeback-chart-old-songs-revived-by-tv-film-and-tiktok-and-the-sea
Use this data. Every table in this study as one spreadsheet-ready file.
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