The Last of Us aired a pivotal episode and caused Linda Ronstadt’s “Long, Long Time” hit song to surge in streams on Spotify.
Nick Offerman (Bill) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) share a moment in the third episode of the HBO zombie series where they play a version of Ronstadt’s hit song. The real version would then get played at the end of the episode with Ronstadt’s voice in full glory.
“On Sunday, January 29th, between 11PM and midnight ET, there was more than 4900% increase in U.S. streams of “Long Long Time” by Linda Ronstadt,” read a tweet from the streamer.
A similar phenomenon happened last year when Kate Bush’s classic “Running Up That Hill (Deal with God)” went viral after a key moment on Netflix’s Stranger Things. The song tethers Max (Sadie Sink) to the real world as she tries to escape Vecna in the Upside Down. Streams for Bush’s song surged and would land back on the music charts with TikTok helping the 80s hit go viral as social media users used it to create trends.
The longevity of Ronstadt’s song resurgence is yet to be seen but bringing the song back into a new generation is a great feat. “Long, Long Time,” which was written by Gary White, was released in 1970 as a single off of Ronstadt’s Silk Purse album. At the time, the single peaked at No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and spent 12 weeks on the list. The singer received a Grammy nomination in 1971 in the Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance category.
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