Bonnie Taylor’s Total Eclipse of the Sun hit number one following the annular eclipse in North America (Picture: Getty/AP)
A total eclipse of the sun was visible from many parts of the world Monday night – and many felt the momentous event deserved a fitting soundtrack.
While most areas across the globe only saw a partial eclipse, the lyrics to Bonnie Taylor’s hit Total Eclipse of the Heart still seemed relevant enough to blast throughout the celestial phenomenon.
The 1983 song became a smash hit all over again, shooting to No. 1 on iTunes just as the eclipse began in the US.
It also surged in popularity on Spotify, with a representative from the streaming service telling CNN that searches for the song rose by nearly 50% in the past week.
The Welsh singer, 72, is very aware of her song’s popularity among those with their eyes on the sky. In 2011 she wrote on X: ‘Notifications are blowing up. *checks news* Ah. There’s an eclipse.’
In 2017, during the last major eclipse in North America, downloads of the song increased more than 500%, according to Billboard, meaning that Tyler can thank her lucky stars every time an eclipse happens.
Tyler’s hit single has been climbing the charts on iTunes all day, but its arrival at number one coincided perfectly with the rare astronomic event.
The song eclipsed Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things atop the iTunes roster for just a little while – about as long as it took for the moon to pass in front of the sun.
People all over the world observed the eclipse (Picture: Reuters)
It’s too soon to tell if the song’s rise in popularity will land it on the Billboard charts, but we’ll find out next Tuesday when the rankings are revealed.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Tyler has seen this kind of meteoric success. Total Eclipse of the Heart first reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 1983. It was the biggest hit of her career, and one of her two top 10s on that chart.
Bonnie Taylor has joked about the song’s association with eclipses in the past (Picture: Hippolyte Petit/BFA.com/Shutterstock)
The song is from her fifth studio album, Faster Than the Speed of Night, and was written and produced by Jim Steinman.
The song was voted by the British public as the nation’s third favourite 1980s number one in an ITV poll in 2015.
While the annular eclipse was visible from Mexico to northeast Canada, only a few lucky areas in the UK got to catch a glimpse of a partial eclipse just as the sun went down – but that didn’t exclude us from
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
MORE : Pictures of the solar eclipse from across North America
MORE : UK to experience solar eclipse today but there’s fat chance of seeing it