Sophie Ellis-Bextor has been churning out disco-pop hits for more than 20 years, but now she’s a Billboard Hot 100-charting hitmaker for the first time, thanks to the viral success of her 2001 song “Murder on the Dancefloor.”
The song, on Polydor/Republic/UMe, debuts at No. 98 on the Jan. 13-dated Hot 100 with 3.9 million official U.S. streams (up 131%) and 2,000 downloads sold (up 92%) in the Dec. 29-Jan. 4 tracking week, according to Luminate.
“Murder on the Dancefloor” has been surging in popularity in recent weeks thanks to its inclusion in the film Saltburn. The track appears in the final scene of the movie, in which the film’s lead Barry Keoghan dances nude to the song. The scene has resulted in many fans recording their own dances to the track on TikTok.
A portion of the song has soundtracked in more than 200,000 TikTok clips, while a separate version has been used in over 100,000 videos. On Instagram Reels, the song has been used in over 70,000 clips. Ellis-Bextor even hopped on the trend, posting a TikTok of herself dancing to the song on New Year’s Eve, clad in a rainbow-sequined kaftan and wearing a set of antlers.
Beyond the Hot 100, “Murder on the Dancefloor” rises 7-4 for a new high on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.
“It actually feels really magical, and if I’m honest, I don’t think I’ve completely processed it really,” Ellis-Bextor told the BBC last week. “It’s a song I’ve been singing for over 20 years. I still love singing it. I love the way people react when I do it live. But for new people to be discovering it, for it to be making new memories with people, is kind of beautiful.”
“Murder on the Dancefloor,” which Ellis-Bextor co-wrote and co-produced with New Radicals’ Gregg Alexander, was a minor hit in the U.S. in 2002. It reached No. 26 on the Dance Club Songs chart and No. 39 on Hot Singles Sales. In her native U.K., though, the song soared to No. 2 on the Official UK Singles Chart.
Ellis-Bextor has earned two other chart hits in the U.S.: “Not Giving Up on Love” with Armin Van Buuren reached No. 3 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay in 2011, and Guena LG and Amir Amargan’s “Back 2 Paradise,” on which she’s featured, hit No. 25 on Dance Club Songs in 2014.
In the U.K., she has notched six top 10 hits on the Official UK Singles Chart and five top 10 albums on the Official UK Albums tally.
Ellis-Bextor, from Hounslow, London, has released seven studio albums in her career, most recently Hana last June. The set peaked at No. 8 on the Official UK. Albums Chart.
