Streams of a song featured at the end of the newest episode of HBO’s The Last of Us surged by more than 1,000% on Spotify, the streaming service has announced.
The cover of Shawn James’ “Through the Valley” by Ashley Johnson and Chris Rondinella jumped by more than 1,000% in the US since Episode 2 aired on Sunday, April 20. Developer Naughty Dog responded to Spotify’s announcement with a heart emoji. Presumably streams of James’ original version rose, too, but Spotify didn’t release any stats about this.
Johnson, of course, performed the role of Ellie in Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us video games and originally recorded the cover of “Through the Valley” to promote The Last of Us: Part II in 2016.
Showrunner and writer Craig Mazin told EW that the new version of “Through the Valley” is a blend of the teaser song from 2016 and “a slightly updated version” that Johnson recorded in a studio more recently. Mazin said he always loved the song, and “what it did to my brain and my heart.”
Johnson played Ellie’s mom in a Season 1 flashback scene, and this had special resonance for the appearance of “Through the Valley” in the latest episode.
“We also not only have a connection to Ashley because she created Ellie in the game, but [because] she plays Ellie’s mom. It is an interesting thing in a moment like this, when your only parent is taken from you [and] the parent you’ve never met, the one you don’t even know about, is there watching,” Mazin said.
This isn’t the first time that an episode of The Last of Us helped boost a song’s streams, as a Season 1 episode helped streams of Linda Ronstadt’s “Long Long Time” jump by nearly 5,000%. Outside of The Last of Us, GTA 6‘s trailer used the Tom Petty song “Love Is A Long Road,” also to great effect, with streams jumping by more than 37,000%.
New episodes of The Last of Us air Sundays at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET on HBO and Max.