Did You Spot That ‘Billboard’ Easter Egg In HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ Premiere?

As an apocalyptic fungal pandemic rages on in the new series The Last of Us, the characters need all the help they can get to survive — including, it would seem, from the Billboard charts.

In the premiere episode of HBO’s long-awaited adaptation of the critically acclaimed video game, viewers find out just how that help is being given. In a pivotal scene toward the end of the 90-minute episode, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) joins Joel (Pedro Pascal) in his apartment as they await instructions on how to smuggle themselves out of a quarantined Boston. Finding an old radio, Ellie also spies and begins flipping through The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits by Fred Bronson.

Detailing the stories behind every No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 since its inception in 1955, Bronson’s book was published in 2003 — the same year that the world was essentially ended by a super-evolved version of the cordyceps fungus in the show.

In the show’s 2023, the book helps decode a secret communication over radio between smuggler Joel and a third party: If a ’60s song is played, it means there’s no new goods to be picked up; if a ’70s song is played, there is something new. And as Ellie learns by the episode’s end, “’80s means trouble.”

So, when the premiere wraps with the radio playing Depeche Mode‘s “Never Let Me Down Again,” we know that there is trouble ahead. It is worth noting that, despite the book Joel is using as a reference, “Never Let Me Down Again” never actually reached the summit of the Hot 100 — no song from the English electronic duo has made it to the top of the all-genre chart. Instead, the track topped out at No. 63 on the tally.

The Last Of Us airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO. Watch the premiere episode now on HBO Max.