Expert: Lee Bastian - 2/2/2005

Question
One of my friends recently claimed that Kate's last hit was Running Up That Hill.  People are often v. loose with their description of the word "hit".  I thought all singles off Hounds of Love cracked the UK Top 20.  I thought even a couple went UK Top 10.  Ditto for The Sensual World's single releases.  I also thought Rubberband Girl did ok in the UK charts.  And I'm assuming that her European chart listings are similarly healthy.  Can you concur.

Answer
    Hello Mark and thank you for your question.I'm sorry it took me a while to respond.I tried(in vain)to find European chart positions with next to no luck.However you are correct that Kate had lots of U.K. chart success well after Running Up That Hill.
    R.U.T.H. was the first single from Hounds Of Love and reached No.3 in the U.K.,No.30 in the U.S..Cloudbusting reached No.20 in the U.K.,Hounds of Love reached No.18 in the U.K.,and The Big Sky reached No.37 in the U.K.
    Kate's duet with Peter Gabriel titled Don't Give Up(from Gabriel's album So)reached No.9 in the U.K. and No.72 in the U.S.
    The song titled Experiment IV(from Kate's compilation The Whole Story,1986) reached No.23 in the U.K.
    From her album The Sensual World: The title track reached No.12 in the U.K. and No.6 on Billboard's U.S. modern rock airplay chart.This Woman's Work reached No.25 in the U.K.Love and Anger reached No.38 in the U.K. and apparently No.1 on Billboard's U.S. modern rock airplay chart.
    Her version of Elton John's Rocket Man reached No.12 in the U.K. and No.11 on Billboard's U.S. modern rock airplay chart.
    From her album The Red Shoes; Rubberband Girl reached No.12 in the U.K.,No.19 in Europe,and No.88 on the U.S. charts(No.7 on Billboard's U.S. modern Rock airplay chart).Eat The Music reached No.10 on Billboard's modern rock airplay chart(I could not find U.K. position for this song)Moments of Pleasure reached No.26 in the U.K.The title track,The Red Shoes,reached No.21 in the U.K. and finally And So Is Love reached No.26 in the U.K.
    Please note that her U.S. modern rock chart positions are not her positions in the overall U.S. charts.Sadly she still is not nearly as recognized in North America as she is in Britain.
    It will be interesting to see if she has chart success with her upcoming album(due in March/05).I am definitely getting stoked about her first album in a dozen years!
    If your friend deems a hit to be a song which reaches at least No. 30 on the overall U.S. charts, then he would be correct.But I agree with you that she has definitely had lots of "hits" since R.U.T.H.
    I hope this helps you out and I thank you again for your question.Please feel free to ask me any more Kate Bush questions you may have.It is always my pleasure to hear from other fans of Kate the great!