From cult classics to anthems that found new life, these tunes experienced dramatic revivals thanks to unforgettable TV moments! Join us as we examine songs that were catapulted back into popularity through iconic television scenes. Our list features tracks that became inseparable from the shows that showcased them in perfect, memorable moments.
00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for songs whose popularity faded
00:13over time, only to find resurgence through memorable moments on hit TV shows. That doesn't
00:18include title sequences that turned tunes into theme songs. Some key plot points are covered,
00:24so a spoiler warning is in place.
00:30Number 10. Make Your Own Kind of Music, Lost. Cass Elliott's breakout after the Mamas and
00:38the Papas' breakup was fittingly an anthem about independence.
00:41Nobody can tell ya there's only one song worth singing.
00:48Make Your Own Kind of Music would be her biggest solo single, but still had a disappointing run.
00:5436 years later, the lost season 2 episode, Man of Science, Man of Faith, opens with Desmond Hume
01:01going about his morning routine in a bunker, whilst blasting Elliott on vinyl.
01:06But you've gotta make your own kind of music.
01:11The stylish juxtaposition of an eerie montage and a lively song, not only made for a standout scene in the acclaimed TV series.
01:19It's recurring use of make-your-own-kind-of-music helped secure a late-60s pop staple for new generations to embrace in their own special way.
01:32Number 9. Rockin' Back Inside My Heart, Twin Peaks.
01:37Julie Cruz owes much to composer Angelo Bottle-Amenti and filmmaker David Lynch, who wrote her debut album Floating Into the Night.
01:45Unfortunately, it didn't hit much beyond the dream-pop crowd.
01:49Tell your heart that I'm the one.
01:55Lead single, Falling Enchanted Viewers of Lynch's Twin Peaks, as its opening theme.
02:00But the spotlight literally landed on Cruz with her cameos as a singer at the Roadhouse.
02:05In the season 2 episode, Lonely Souls, the patrons are so moved by Rockin' Back Inside My Heart that Audrey Horn mouths the lyrics to Bobby Briggs.
02:13This rather blatant promotion boosted the album enough on the charts for that track to be later released as a single.
02:20Though it's permanently associated with Twin Peaks, Cruz had finally won the hearts of the mainstream.
02:33Number 8. I Think We're Alone Now, The Umbrella Academy.
02:37Tiffany's cover of Tommy James and the Shondells was one of the defining pop songs of the 1980s.
02:42Children's the end. That's what they say when we're together.
02:49I Think We're Alone Now didn't generate much nostalgia with later generations, but clearly meant a lot to the superheroes on the Umbrella Academy.
02:57The first episode features Luther Hargreaves playing the song throughout their mansion headquarters, where each lead dances in a separate room.
03:04That's what they say when we're together and watch a new play.
03:11This gives the traumatized family a break from processing the death of their adoptive father, who isolated them.
03:17As they embrace their individuality, while sharing a moment of joy, Tiffany's saucy teen anthem becomes poignant symbolism.
03:23The permanently popular I Think We're Alone Now finally entered the viral age, as if anyone was ever alone in dancing to this cross-generational classic.
03:39Number 7. Breathe Me, Six Feet Under.
03:50Despite instant acclaim, Sia's Breathe Me only found commercial mileage in alternative markets.
03:56Help, I have done it again.
04:01Then it was selected to score the last scene of the last episode of HBO's Six Feet Under, Everyone's Waiting.
04:08I have been here many times before.
04:15Claire Fisher plays the powerfully emotional anthem as she drives out of Los Angeles, against flash-forwards to the heart-wrenching deaths of every main character on the show.
04:24This rounds out what is considered one of the most moving series finales of all time.
04:28Ouch.
04:29Since then, Breathe Me has become a platinum hit that helped propel Sia's rise to mainstream pop stardom.
04:41It's sure to take your breath away, with or without its tear-jerking place in TV history.
04:46I love me.
04:53Number 6. Goo Goo Muck, Wednesday.
04:56The cramps brought Ronnie Cook and the gay lads into the mainstream, but their Psycho Billy interpretation of the hyper-obscure Goo Goo Muck was still very niche.
05:05Well, when the sun goes down and the moon comes up.
05:09Luckily, a quirky homage to both 80s goth culture and 60s B-movies is the perfect niche for Netflix's Addams Family spin-off.
05:20I turned into a teenage Goo Goo Muck.
05:24The season 1 episode, Whoa, What a Night, is highlighted by Wednesday Addams dominating Nevermore Academy's Raven Dance, but staying deadpan throughout her zany routine to the cramps.
05:37The scene became such a viral sensation that it played a major role in the overall popularity of the show Wednesday.
05:51It certainly took Goo Goo Muck from an 80s cult curiosity to a danceable sleeper hit in the 2020s.
05:57Number 5. Chasing Cars, Grey's Anatomy.
06:05From the phrase How to Save a Life to Tegan and Sarah's Where Does the Good Go, Grey's Anatomy has popularized countless songs across two decades.
06:13We'll do it all, everything.
06:20But we've never forgotten the season 2 finale Losing My Religion.
06:23The Snow Patrol album Eyes Open had been out for less than a month when Chasing Cars played over the aftermath of a patient's shocking death.
06:36This helped cement the British rocker's global status when the single was released shortly thereafter.
06:41Chasing Cars climbed the charts, swept awards, and had the honor of being the last performance on the long-running BBC music showcase Top of the Pops.
06:59Even if its success is only partly attributed to Grey's Anatomy, it announced the show as a sought-after music platform.
07:05Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
07:12Number 4. In the Air Tonight, Miami Vice.
07:15The launch of MTV sustained the mainstream popularity of Phil Collins' eerie chart-topper In the Air Tonight at least throughout 1981.
07:24I can feel it coming in the air tonight.
07:30Of course, one can argue that the launch of NBC's Miami Vice three years later formally made it a part of TV history.
07:43The pilot episode, Brothers Keeper, defines this procedural's unique neo-noir style with Crockett and Tubbs' chilling odyssey to confront a drug lord at night.
07:53The cool, suspenseful use of In the Air Tonight is so ingenious that later films and shows have rarely played it outside of direct homage.
08:09And yet, the song continues to haunt pop culture right alongside Miami Vice as emblematic of 80s sleekness at its absolute coolest.
08:17Number 3. Running Up That Hill. Stranger Things.
08:27The soundtrack is obviously key to the 80s nostalgia surrounding Netflix's Stranger Things.
08:33It doesn't hurt me.
08:36Do you want to feel how it feels?
08:39A ballad as haunting as Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill is used to more dramatic effect throughout season 4,
08:45as Max Mayfield listens to it repeatedly to mitigate depression.
08:53That's particularly the case in Dear Billy,
08:56in which Max removes her headphones to enter the Upside Down and confront the trauma-driven demon Vecna.
09:03Her narrow escape to an orchestral remix of Running Up That Hill is considered one of the most intense set pieces of the whole show.
09:10It's also directly linked to a viral revival of the song in pop culture.
09:23Having licensed the song only because she's a fan of Stranger Things, Bush is now back on top.
09:29Number 2. Baby Blue. Breaking Bad.
09:40You gotta love Breaking Bad's musical throwbacks, right to the bitter end.
09:45The series finale, Felina, culminates with a mortally wounded Walter White looking upon a batch of his signature blue meth as police close in.
09:53The peppy Badfinger classic Baby Blue scoring this tragic sequence is oddly fitting for the grandiose redemption and downfall of Heisenberg.
10:07The celebrated drama's final scene was bound to be historic, but so too was its impact on the already beloved final needle drop.
10:15Billboard reported a 3,000% sales increase on the already evergreen single just in the week after the episode aired.
10:27Now, Baby Blue's legacy is secured even more deeply and much more positively than Mr. White's.
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10:54Number 1. Don't Stop Believin'. The Sopranos.
10:57Made in America is one of the most polarizing TV finales ever, with a most ironic song choice.
11:03Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world.
11:10The Sopranos concludes with Tony Soprano playing Journey's Don't Stop Believin' on a restaurant jukebox while waiting for his daughter, Meadow, to join the family.
11:18He took me now to drink up and leave me there.
11:24The sequence's delicate pacing conveys the paranoia surrounding mob life.
11:28But as Tony hears the door flying open, everything, well, stops.
11:33Whatever viewers thought of this infamous cut to black, they praised the use of music.
11:38I went ahead and ordered the show for the tape.
11:40Don't Stop Believin'.
11:43This settled Journey's classic anthem into 21st century pop culture, before a cover on Glee turned it into something of a nuisance.
11:50With Don't Stop Believin''s relentless airplay, however, we take for granted what our favorite shows can do for our favorite songs.
11:59What are some other TV scenes and soundtracks stuck on replay in your head?
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