It’s official: Stranger Things has done for Metallica what it did for Kate Bush. One of the anthems from the metal legends has charted as a single for the first time, making musical history. ‘Master of Puppets’, featured in Stranger Things season 4, debuted in the Billboard Hot 100 almost four decades after release.
The momentous occasion is marked by the Chart Data Twitter account, which tweeted out about ‘Master of Puppets’ achieving the accolade. At time of writing, Metallica’s epic was at number 40 as a new entry, ahead of Lil Nas X and Ed Sheeran. Not bad for a song written, recorded, and put out 36 years ago, well before those artists were even born.
Getting into the Billboard Hot 100 is nothing to be sniffed at. As a singles chart, it’s highly contentious, predominantly full of musicians in the realm of pop music, not exactly where you’d expect to find an eight-minute riff-fest that moves at a mile-a-minute. But such is the power of the Netflix series Stranger Things, pushing metal into the mainstream.
Metallica welcomed Stranger Things fans to the fold on TikTok. The show released a clip of actor Joseph Quinn, who plays metalhead Eddie Munson in the show, practicing ‘Master of Puppets’ on Twitter, too.
Before Metallica charted, None other than Kate Bush enjoyed a renewed boost to her song ‘Running Up That Hill’. She was lucky enough to get a sport on season 4 part 1, giving her a solid month of buzz before part 2 came along. Needless to say, Stranger Things might be where bands from the ’80s focus their efforts from now on.
.@Metallica's "Master of Puppets" enters the Hot 100 for the first time ever following #StrangerThings, 36 years after release.
— chart data (@chartdata) July 11, 2022
On top of all that, Iron Maiden got a shout-out as well. Any chance we’ll get some ‘Number of the Beast’ in Stranger Things season 5? We’re ready.