Prince Songs Experience Streaming Surge after Appearing in Stranger Things Series

JAKARTA - Prince's songs experienced a huge streaming spike on Spotify after appearing in the final episode of the popular Netflix series, Stranger Things.

This phenomenon shows the power of popular series in reviving the passion for classical music in the digital era, considering that the previous season of Stranger Things also successfully lifted Kate Bush's song.

Launching Variety, Prince's legendary song titled "Purple Rain" experienced a global streaming increase of up to 243 percent after the release of the final episode of Stranger Things.

Interestingly, the significant impact occurred among young generation listeners or Gen-Z. It was recorded that the surge in streaming "Purple Rain" among Gen-Z globally reached a fantastic figure, namely 577 percent.

Not only that, the song "When Doves Cry" also climbed up with a 200 percent increase in global streaming, as well as a 128 percent increase among Gen-Z listeners.

Overall, the total number of Prince's music catalog rounds increased by 190 percent on the Spotify platform.

The two songs appear in crucial and emotional moments at the end of the Stranger Things story. When the heroes of Hawkins put explosives to destroy the Upside Down forever, they played the second side of the Prince album.

The scene reaches its peak when the song "Purple Rain" accompanies the moment when Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown, seems to sacrifice herself while bringing Mike into her mind to say goodbye.

The presence of Prince's songs in this series is special because of his very strict track record of licensing.

Since Prince released the song as the theme song for the film Purple Rain in 1984, his works have rarely been allowed to be used in television series.

The Prince heritage management is also known to be very selective in granting licenses outside of the original film project.

This increase in streaming numbers adds to Stranger Things' long list of successes in influencing global charts through music synchronization techniques.

The nostalgic effect offered by this series proves to be effective in bridging the age gap of music listeners, as well as introducing the masterpieces of legendary musicians to a wider new audience through the integration of a strong story.