Key art for Stranger Things Season 5. © Netflix

Stranger Things did not end quietly. Neither did its effect on the music business.

After the first four episodes of Season 5 premiered on Netflix on Nov. 26, 2025, songs heard in the series recorded immediate global gains on Spotify. The Chordettes’ 1954 recording of “Mr. Sandman” produced the largest streaming increase among the Volume 1 tracks measured, rising 625%. Diana Ross’s “Upside Down” followed with a 510% increase in global streams, while Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now” climbed 490%. ABBA’s “Fernando” rose 335%.

Those figures compare Spotify activity on the day before the premiere with activity on Dec. 3. Search behavior increased even more sharply: “Upside Down” jumped 3,538% in global Spotify searches, Tiffany’s song rose 1,288%, “Fernando” increased 1,110%, and “Mr. Sandman” climbed 1,030%. Ross’s song also recorded a 1,250% increase in streams among Gen Z listeners, according to Spotify.

The biggest Volume 1 streaming gains:

The Chordettes — “Mr. Sandman”: +625%
Diana Ross — “Upside Down”: +510%
Tiffany — “I Think We’re Alone Now”: +490%
ABBA — “Fernando”: +335%

But the season’s music effect did not stop with November.

The Dec. 31 series finale featured two unusually difficult-to-license Prince recordings — “When Doves Cry” and “Purple Rain” — with Spotify streams for the songs subsequently rising 200% and 243%, respectively, while Prince’s broader catalog climbed 190%. David Bowie’s “Heroes,” used over the closing credits, rose from a previous daily average of roughly 94,000 streams to as many as 470,000 — a nearly fivefold increase. Netflix’s Tudum confirmed that Prince’s estate rarely approves “Purple Rain” for uses outside the film of the same name.

The finale also produced chart results that percentages alone don’t capture. Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” entered the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time. Djo’s “End of Beginning” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 and a new peak of No. 6 on the Hot 100 — despite never appearing in the show itself. Its resurgence was fueled by fan edits celebrating actor and musician Joe Keery, who played Steve Harrington in the series.

The season’s various-artists soundtrack arrived digitally in three stages — Nov. 28, Dec. 26, and Jan. 1 — followed by CD, vinyl, and cassette editions on Jan. 30 via Legacy Recordings. Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein’s original score was released separately on Jan. 1 through Lakeshore Records and Invada Records. The soundtrack sold 21,000 copies in the United States in the week ending Feb. 5, per Billboard.

Across five seasons, Stranger Things has demonstrated something increasingly valuable to catalog owners: a song attached to a character, a turning point, or a goodbye can become more than background music. It becomes part of the story — and audiences keep listening after the screen goes dark.