10 Best Kate Bush Songs That Aren't "Running Up That Hill," Ranked

3 days ago 10

Hounds of Love - Kate Bush - 1985 - album cover

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Well, the elephant in the room when it comes to talking about Kate Bush in a post-2022 world is the fact that Stranger Things exists, and it made “Running Up That Hill” (or “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God),” for the full title) a hit two times over. It was used in season 4 to great effect, especially in “Chapter Four: Dear Billy,” and then heard again in season 5, becoming the most iconic of all the 1980s songs (and there were many) used throughout the ever-popular show.

That chart success for "Running Up That Hill" in 2022 is thanks to Stranger Things, but also, that fourth season of Stranger Things owes a lot to Kate Bush.

It's a phenomenal song on its own, and was relatively successful in 1985, reaching #6 in Australia, #3 in the U.K., and #30 in the U.S. But then you compare that to where it charted in 2022, and you’ve got it coming in at #1 in Australia, #1 in the U.K., and #3 in the U.S. And that chart success in 2022 is thanks to Stranger Things, but also, that season of Stranger Things owes a lot to Kate Bush. And you should owe a lot to Kate Bush, too. Like your time, say, by giving these songs a listen. She’s always been more than a one-hit wonder, especially when you consider that some of these songs were also successful back when they first came out, and all the ones below still hold up to this day.

(As a personal note, sorry in advance for not including “Babooshka,” which is a popular Kate Bush song, but I just do not like it).

10 "Sat in Your Lap"

From 'The Dreaming' (1982)

The Dreaming is perhaps the most out-there and ahead of its time album Kate Bush has ever made, which is saying quite a bit, since many of her albums have out-there concepts, or at least individual songs that are out-there. “Sat in Your Lap” sets the mood pretty well, as the album’s opening track, with some unexpected instrumentation here, and lyrics that aren’t exactly clear.

You can hear the words, or make most of them out, but the meaning of them all placed together feels more abstract… though in a way that works; in a way Kate Bush does indeed sell. It’s also cool that something this avant-garde wasn’t just released as a single, but released as a single that didn’t do too badly, charting at #11 in the U.K. and at #25 in Italy.

9 "The Big Sky"

From 'Hounds of Love' (1985)

Hounds of Love was the album that “Running Up That Hill” was placed on, and it also happens to be her best album, partly – but not wholly – due to that song about hills and running up them. There are a bunch of great songs here, including “The Big Sky,” which is maybe the poppiest and most energetic track on the album, and it’s fun and a bit lightweight, like Bush is saying she can do conventional bangers with ease, too.

If you want something a bit weightier or more challenging, then you’ve got, like, half of Hounds of Love, because side two of that album is a little more out-there, and then you’ve also got all the other albums of Bush’s that are a bit further removed from the pop sphere than Hounds of Love. It’s just a bop of a song, and that’s all “The Big Sky” really needs to be.

8 "King of the Mountain"

From 'Aerial' (2005)

20 years after singing about a hill, Kate Bush escalates things by having the opening track on her first album of the 21st century be about a mountain. Well, not literally. It's actually about Elvis Presley and Citizen Kane. Also, “King of the Mountain” might not be an escalation quality-wise, but that’s only because “Running Up That Hill” is so next-level. It’s probably the highlight of the particularly ambitious Aerial (2005), which was Kate Bush’s first true double album, and her first to exceed an hour in length.

Half of Aerial is one massive piece, split into parts, that makes up the second half of the double album, almost like one song. And it was tempting to put that here, but “King of the Mountain” is probably better, and more identifiable as a single track. The whole album’s quite good, though, and a bit underrated within Bush’s discography, compared to her 1970s and 1980s releases.

7 "Hello Earth"

From 'Hounds of Love' (1985)

And, like Aerial, Hounds of Love has a second half that’s sort of one long musical piece, with Kate Bush being just as effective as doing this when The Beatles (kind of) did it for the last half of Abbey Road. It’s a bit easier to select individual songs with the second half of Hounds of Love, though, albeit not to the same extent that such a thing can be done with the album’s first half.

So, with the half dubbed The Ninth Wave, the best track is probably “Hello Earth,” which goes for six unpredictable minutes, being eerie, beautiful, and intense, all at different points. There’s so much going on here, even with the song itself being paced rather patiently, and like a lot of great music by Kate Bush, it’s hard to put into words what makes it so great. But you can hear what makes it great, that’s for sure.

6 "Night of the Swallow"

From 'The Dreaming' (1982)

Actually, wait! What Kate Bush did with “Hello Earth,” she sort of did with “Night of the Swallow.” It’s paced at a sort of similar spot on The Dreaming, is one of its album’s longer tracks, and is also an unpredictable and haunting listen. It serves a similar purpose on The Dreaming that “Hello Earth” did on Hounds of Love, but it’s more of a vibe thing, the way these songs kind of hit the same.

Musically, it doesn’t feel like the 1985 track was a retread of the 1982 one. With “Night of the Swallow,” it goes to some intense places lyrically, and it’s uniquely unsettling while also being beautiful. It’s another confounding and intoxicating Kate Bush song, what else can really be said?... Oh, one more thing can be said. It’s probably the best song on The Dreaming, but that might not be a conversation most people are ready to have right now.

5 "Army Dreamers"

From 'Never for Ever' (1980)

A charged song politically/socially, given it’s an anti-war one, “Army Dreamers” is secretly one of Kate Bush’s best songs, and probably the highlight from the album Never for Ever. It tones things down a bit, being somber but also well-written and kind of snappy, just without too much energy or fun that would undermine what the song is going for lyrically.

That’s not to suggest it’s a total downer, or lacking some traces of quirkiness, because you very much get Bush’s personality and musical sensibilities on offer here, all the while she approaches some slightly new territory as a songwriter, as far as the written words are concerned. “Army Dreamers” also benefits from a fairly striking music video (one of many, it should be noted, eye-catching ones that Bush did in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s).

4 "Hounds of Love"

From 'Hounds of Love' (1985)

The title track on the previously-mentioned best Kate Bush album, “Hounds of Love” keeps the momentum going from “Running Up That Hill,” following that opening track directly, since it’s the album’s second one. Both it and that first song set the mood perfectly, with “Hounds of Love” being a tad more upbeat, which means it leads excellently into the extra bouncy third track, “The Big Sky.”

This is turning into more of a breakdown of Hounds of Love the album, rather than the song, but hey, they’ve got the same name, and it’s done in a way to stress how the whole album really does stand as an essential listen overall. There’s a catharsis in “Hounds of Love” found on some of the other all-timer songs here, and it’s all very infectious in an almost uncanny and hard-to-wrap-one’s-head-around sort of way.

3 "This Woman's Work"

From 'The Sensual World' (1989)

“This Woman’s Work” was used in at least two TV shows before “Running Up That Hill” was heard in Stranger Things, but like “Running Up That Hill,” it does very much stand on its own. It’s possibly Bush’s best ballad, and appeared as the highlight of her 1989 album This Sensual World… though technically, the first thing it appeared on was the soundtrack album to 1988’s She's Having a Baby.

So, it’s got links to that movie, and some shows, but this is still a Kate Bush song through and through. It’s a tremendously moving song, starting slow and sparse but building a little – though not too much – in intensity by the end, for an ultimate release. It packs more than you'd expect into a song that’s quite slow and, in the end, only about three-and-a-half minutes in length.

2 "Cloudbusting"

From 'Hounds of Love' (1985)

If you want to score cool points, you'd be wise to single out “Cloudbusting” as your favorite track from Hounds of Love, picking it over “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God),” but truth be told, both are equally incredible. This one does rival what is now undoubtedly Bush’s most popular track, and it’s similarly appealing, grand in its sound, and ultimately cathartic.

There’s a reason “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” opens the first side of Hounds of Love, and “Cloudbusting” closes that first side. They're both absolutely perfect songs. Also, “Cloudbusting” has a weird but oddly affecting music video that stars Donald Sutherland, and Kate Bush as his child-aged son, and it somehow works, providing extra context for the real-life story covered in the song’s lyrics. Also, the final minute or two of this song, and the way it builds toward the end, is such a rush, and representative of baroque/art pop at its very best.

1 "Wuthering Heights"

From 'The Kick Inside' (1978)

With “Wuthering Heights,” Kate Bush took the famous novel of the same name (soon to have a 2026 adaptation) and wrote some lyrics about it, adding one of the best melodies in pop history, and there you have it: an all-timer of a song. She made it look easy here, but listening to “Wuthering Heights,” it’s hard to figure out how she came up with this and made it all work so well, because it’s weird yet really easy to enjoy. It’s an earworm, but an artsy one, and also one that you don’t mind having stuck in your head.

If it weren’t for the resurgence in popularity “Running Up That Hill” experienced in 2022, “Wuthering Heights” would likely remain the most popular, most played, and highest-charting song of Bush’s career. Still, second-best to that other titan of a song isn't bad. And, like “Cloudbusting,” “Wuthering Heights” is a song that, in quality, pretty much equals “Running Up That Hill,” so those three songs make up one hell of a trio, collectively demonstrating Kate Bush at her – and 20th century music more generally at its – absolute best.