Bonnie Tyler's 1983 hit "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" saw a 94 percent rise in UK streams during Wednesday's solar eclipse, and a 14 percent rise worldwide, NME reported on August 14, citing new Spotify data. The spike came five weeks after Tyler's death on July 8.
The eclipse obscured around 91 per cent of the sun over the UK between roughly 6pm and 8:15pm on August 12, the most coverage the country has seen since the 1999 total eclipse. Other tracks saw even bigger spikes: Evolfo's "Moon Eclipsed The Sun" rose 12,817 per cent in the UK, Chris Staples's "Dark Side Of The Moon" rose 2,805 per cent, and Pink Floyd's "Eclipse" rose 594 per cent.
Mal Pope, a friend of Tyler's, told The Independent she would have loved seeing her song played so widely: "She had the most amazing voice, a great singer, and I'm sure she would have been smiling."
Spotify's senior editor Shannon Carragher said the data shows how deeply people rely on music to mark shared moments like the eclipse. The streaming spike adds to a season of renewed attention on Tyler's catalogue following her death, and is filed under this week's pop coverage.
The facts
- Total Eclipse Of The Heart streams rose 94 percent in the UK during the eclipse
- Worldwide streams for the song rose 14 percent
- The eclipse fell five weeks after Bonnie Tyler's death on July 8
- The eclipse covered about 91 percent of the sun over the UK on August 12
- Pink Floyd's Eclipse rose 594 percent in UK streams
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