‘Wednesday’ Synchs Drive Streams & Sales for The Cramps, Beach House & More
Written by djfrosty on December 7, 2022
Music featured in the first season of Netflix’s new series Wednesday dot the Billboard charts dated Dec. 10 following the show’s Nov. 23 premiere.
That even includes a No. 1, as The Cramps’ “Goo Goo Muck” rules the Alternative Digital Song Sales list on the strength of 2,000 downloads in the Nov. 25-Dec. 1 tracking week, according to Luminate, up 2,229% from a negligible amount the previous period.
The ruler marks The Cramps’ first No. 1 on a Billboard chart. The rockers, active for three decades until the death of singer Lux Interior in 2009, are often cited as inspirations partially in the psychobilly genre but had never found much chart success, scoring a lone appearance on the Alternative Airplay tally in 1990 with the No. 10-peaking “Bikini Girls With Machine Guns.”
“Muck,” which can be heard on the band’s 1981 sophomore effort Psychedelic Jungle and is a cover of a tune initially recorded by Ronnie Cook and the Gaylads in the ‘60s, prominently features in an episode-four dance scene featuring Wednesday’s titular character, portrayed by Jenna Ortega.
In addition to its bump in sales, “Muck” earned 817,000 on-demand U.S. streams Nov. 25-Dec. 1, a bound of 2,705% from 29,000 Nov. 18-24.
While “Muck” is the only song featured in Wednesday to top a Billboard chart dated Dec. 10, it wasn’t the most streamed. That distinction belongs to Beach House’s 2015 offering “Space Song,” heard in episode three. The song earned 4 million streams, a 41% boost. Those metrics launch it onto Alternative Streaming Songs at No. 15, a new peak for the song and its first appearance since January and February of 2022, when it charted due to TikTok virality, and it also starts at Nos. 14, 16 and 20 on Hot Alternative Songs, Hot Rock Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, respectively, where older songs are able to appear if in the top half of chart points and with a meaningful reason for their re-entry.
Other major gains include those for Apocalyptica’s cover of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters,” which jumped 817% to 1,000 downloads and 506% to 166,000 streams; Edith Piaf’s “Non Je Ne Regrette Rien (179,000 streams, up 67%); and Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” (168,000 streams, up 55%).
And though it’s not heard in the series per se, Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary” has received tangential gains due to TikTok edits of the aforementioned “Goo Goo Muck” dance scene in which creators replace the song with Gaga’s 2011 Born This Way cut.
From Nov. 25-Dec. 1, “Mary” earned 2 million streams, a 411% increase.