Saltburn: Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor returns to UK Top 10
"It actually feels really magical. I'm just having so much fun," the singer says
By Dale Fox
Sophie Ellis-Bextor‘s 2001 hit single ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ has made an unexpected return to the UK Top 10 singles chart after featuring prominently in the divisive thriller Saltburn.
Released in December on Amazon Prime Video, Saltburn became an instant viral sensation thanks to a scene featuring star Barry Keoghan dancing naked to the Ellis-Bextor track.
The movie prompted a huge resurgence of interest in ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’, leading to over 2.2 million streams in the latest chart week – its biggest ever streaming total. As a result, the song has re-entered the UK Top 10 at Number 8. It originally peaked at Number 2 in December 2001.
The song’s revival was further boosted by social media, where Ellis-Bextor posted her own tribute version copying Keoghan’s dance from the Saltburn scene.
Other celebrities including Dylan Mulvaney also created TikTok videos using the track under the #murderonthedancefloor hashtag. The peak of this viral interest came on New Year’s Eve, when ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ broke its all-time record for streams in a single day on Spotify.
@dylanmulvaney #duet with @account #2023 ♬ saltburn traumatised me – account
“It actually feels really magical” – Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Ellis-Bextor expressed delight at the song getting a whole new lease of life 22 years later, telling the Official Charts Company: “It actually feels really magical. I’m just having so much fun.” She also praised Saltburn director Emerald Fennell for her “extraordinary” vision in syncing the track to the film’s much-discussed finale.
Speaking to Attitude about Saltburn, director Emerald Fennell said it was “undeniably” about queer desire.
“It’s a film about power and sex which is a love story,” Fennell also said. She then went on to say: “Another film, The Remains Of The Day, is a good example, in the genre of a love story that never happened.”
This isn’t the first time an older song has seen a comeback after featuring in a movie or TV series. Kate Bush‘s ‘Running Up That Hill’ reached Number 1 in the summer after being used prominently throughout the latest series of Stranger Things.
Saltburn is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.