Solar Eclipse Drives Sales Spike for ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’

2017-08-22

Story by Anne Erickson

The 2017 total solar eclipse resulted in major sales for a famous tune

Yesterday’s total solar eclipse literally eclipsed everything else going on yesterday, as millions around North America stopped everything to watch in awe of the rare natural event. As it turns out, the total solar eclipse was a very good thing for Bonnie Tyler.

Tyler’s 1983 chart-topper “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was on many music lovers’ minds yesterday, and the charts reflect that. On Monday (Aug. 21), the song hit No. 1 on the iTunes chart.

The official music video for “Total Eclipse of the Heart” on YouTube also hit roughly 260,000 views per hour on Monday,  according to Variety, as opposed to about 65,000 per hour in the days leading up to the eclipse.

As Billboard points out, in the week inching towards Monday’s eclipse, sales of digital downloads of the track for all platforms went up a whopping 503 percent.  The track pushed 12,000 downloads in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 20. It sold 2,000 downloads the prior week.

Tyler really got into the total eclipse fun and performed the legendary track during the eclipse with DNCE as her backing band on a Royal Caribbean cruise on Monday.

Chances are, the next mega sales spike for “Total Eclipse of the Heart” will come in 2024, when the U.S. will be in the path of another total solar eclipse.

Anne Erickson
Posted by Anne Erickson | Music, Rock, Rock News