The ever-mysterious and heavy Swedish rock outfit Ghost has officially hit the Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart for the first time in the band’s one and a half decade runtime. According to Blabbermouth, the band’s track “Mary On a Cross” debuted at No. 90 on the chart, streaming 6 million times in the United States alone, while selling 1000 downloads. The track was originally released in 2019.
Like many tracks that have skyrocketed to the top charts in recent years, “Mary On a Cross’s” recent success can be attributed in large part to TikTok. In August, a post relating to Stranger Things went viral while using the Ghost track as background music. The fandom for Stranger Things has also been instrumental in skyrocketing Kate Bush’s classic track “Running up that Hill” to No. 1 on UK charts.
After the viral TikTok video, others were quick to follow on the trend, with the hashtag relating to “Mary on a Cross” earning one billion views, with tens of thousands of different users on the site using the track in their own videos. Ghost later released their own slowed down and reverbed version of the 2019 track.
“Mary on a Cross” was originally released as a single for Ghost’s 2019 album Seven Inches of Satanic Panic. Ghost has recently paid tribute to the legendary Death vocalist Chuck Schuldiner with a performance of “Zombie Ritual.” In January, the band released their newest album, Imperia.
Photo Credit: Boston Lynn Schulz