In a year that’s already seen a resurgence for Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” and Metallica‘s “Master of Puppets” due to their usage in Stranger Things, Nirvana are also back on a couple of charts in 2022 with a track that didn’t previously chart, “Something in the Way.”
On the most recent Mediabase charts that round up radio airplay stats, “Something in the Way” sits at No. 33 on the Active Rock chart and No. 48 on the Alternative chart. It’s also seen prior success on the Billboard charts, peaking at No. 2 on the U.S. Digital Rock Songs Sales chart and No. 5 on the U.S. Alternative Digital Songs Sales chart. And back in March of this year, the song entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart at No. 46.
So what’s behind the interest in 30-plus-year-old deep cut from Nirvana’s Nevermind breakout album? It’s tie to The Batman film released earlier this year seems to be behind the radio airplay. An even more haunting version of the track played over the initial trailer for The Batman film back in 2020, which gave the song its initial breakthrough on certain Billboard sales charts.
Now that the film arrived earlier this year, enjoyed a theatrical run and has continued as a favorite on pay-cable channels, the radio airplay has followed, pushing the song into the Top 50 on the two aforementioned Mediabase charts.
Upon the song’s initial release on 1991’s Nevermind album, it occupied the final spot (minus the hidden track “Endless Nameless”) in the album’s running order. Given the album’s popularity, even as a deeper cut it was fairly well known amongst Nirvana fans. That said, it wasn’t exactly a band favorite when it came to their live sets, only being performed 36 times (per Setlist.fm) over the course of their touring history, making it the third least performed song from the album.
With it’s recent success, “Something in the Way” is now the fifth song from the album to hit the Billboard Hot 100 (following “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Come as You Are,” “Lithium” and “In Bloom”), while also being their first charting entry since 2002’s “You Know You’re Right.”
“Something in the Way” is the latest of what appears to be a growing trend of catalog music finding new popularity.
Revisit The Batman trailer and the original version of “Something in the Way” below.