Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s hit song from 2001, “Murder on the Dancefloor,” has reappeared in the Top 10 after 22 years due to its use in the final scene of the film “Saltburn,” directed by Emerald Fennell.
According to data from the Official Charts Company (OCC), the song reached number 8 on the charts and received 2.2 million streams. Prior to its release on Amazon Prime, the song had a weekly peak of 293,000 streams.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s second individual song reached its highest position at number 2 in December 2001, as it was surpassed by Daniel Bedingfield’s Gotta Get Thru This for the top spot.
TikTok has played a significant role in the song’s comeback, with stars like Paris Hilton incorporating it into their videos, even using it to announce her pregnancy. The song’s hashtag has gained over 40 million views on the platform.
Spotify informed the BBC that the track was included on several New Year’s Eve playlists. On December 31, 2023, the song had its most successful day on the platform, receiving 1.5 million streams.
At 44 years old, Ellis-Bextor shared with the OCC that she feels a strong connection to her music. She has always appreciated how her work has the power to surprise her. She has been singing “Murder on the Dancefloor” for two decades and has a great relationship with the song. She enjoys singing and performing it, and she finds the current reception of the song to be quite magical.
She expressed her gratitude to fans for embarking on a “magical adventure” with the song and shared that she is thoroughly enjoying the experience.
In the last part of Saltburn, the main character Oliver, portrayed by Barry Keoghan, is seen dancing without clothes around the mansion of his college friends after murdering the matriarch Elspeth and taking control of the mansion and the family’s wealth.
In 2022, Kate Bush’s song “Running Up That Hill” experienced a surge in popularity after being featured in the Netflix series Stranger Things. This trend of older songs gaining renewed attention through their inclusion in movies or TV shows is becoming increasingly common.
Earlier this week, Ellis-Bextor marked the song’s success in the midweek charts by sharing a video of herself singing it while wearing antlers, representing the Saltburn estate, as a nod to Oliver’s dancing in the scene.
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Sophie Ellis-Bextor informed the BBC that she was aware of Fennell’s plan for the song when she requested to use it in the movie. She explained that she had viewed the controversial and graphic film at a screening with her family, including her mother Janet Ellis and her 19-year-old son Sonny. She expressed concern about how her son would react to the explicit scenes while watching them with his mother and grandmother.
“But he enjoyed it. He even said it was one of his top 10 favorite films. I was anxious throughout the movie, but there were two moments where I couldn’t even watch.”
The number one song this week is “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan, making it the first time the Vermont songwriter has topped the UK charts. In the previous week, it was one of only three non-Christmas songs in the Top 40, but many have since fallen off the chart in the first week of the new year.
Source: theguardian.com
