Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Return to the Charts

Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s 2001 hit, “Murder on the Dancefloor,” has made a resounding comeback, thanks in part to Emerald Fennell’s 2023 gothic and glorious film, ‘Saltburn‘ .The film, featuring Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi, has propelled the colourful track back to the number 8 position, over two decades after it reached number 2 upon its initial release.

The groovy track, “Murder on the Dancefloor,” delves into the themes of tumult, jealousy and doing what you can to set the groove with similar semantics being discussed in ‘Saltburn’ it is fitting that this song would soundtrack its final scene. Depicting a disturbing dialogue about desire, deceit and the class divide ‘Saltburn’ has quickly become a cult classic with Gen Z and millennials coming together to show their love for both the film and the track in a slew of viral TikTok’s.

“Saltburn”-themed videos featuring the track have amassed an impressive 4 billion views on the app. The track also experienced a significant surge in streams on New Year’s Eve 2023, with 1.5 million streams in a single day. Furthermore, in the first week of January, “Murder on the Dancefloor” claimed the top trending spot on The Hot 100, marking its first appearance on the list.

Perhaps this musical miracle holds a motto we should carry into 2024: we may plant seeds in the day that will only grow at night- Bextor herself put it poetically in a Newsnight interview earlier this month “You have to be open to the unexpected, and you can’t plan what happens next”.