Back in 2024, Stranger Things star Joe Keery aka Djo told The Spout podcast that he was shocked when Taylor Swift told him she was a fan of his song “End Of Beginning.” Now Joe’s in the top 10 alongside Taylor.
Thanks to the final episode of Stranger Things, “End of the Beginning” has experienced a massive streaming boost, jumping from #16 to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s Djo’s first top-10 hit; it previously peaked at #11 in March 2024.
It should be noted the song was not used in the show’s final season. The last song to make the top 10 thanks to Stranger Things — Kate Bush‘s “Running Up that Hill” — did so only after being played over and over during season 4.
Meanwhile, Taylor’s “The Fate of Ophelia” has just racked up its 10th week on top of the Hot 100. It’s her longest-running #1 hit; the previous one, “Anti-Hero,” lasted eight weeks.
As for the Joe/Taylor encounter, Joe told the podcast that in June 2023 he and Taylor ran into each other at a New York recording studio.
“She said, ‘Hey, I really love that track of yours, ‘End Of Beginning,'” Keery recalled. The song, originally released in 2022, didn’t become widely known until early 2024. “She just said she had heard the song. And, you know, obviously I’m like, ‘What? You heard that song? How the hell did you hear that song?’”
“But she’s, like, a music lover and she’s also so hip to new music. … So I guess it’s not shocking to me because she’s a big fan of music and digs around and it somehow came across her desk.”
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