Billboard have launched a new Top Movie Songs chart, and its first number one entry is Bee Gees’ “Tragedy,” thanks to its appearance in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
The company has shared that rankings for the Top Movie Songs chart are based on song and film data provided by Tunefind, “ranked using a formula blending that data with sales and streaming information tracked by Luminate during the corresponding period of September 2024. The ranking includes newly released films from the preceding two months.”
“Tragedy,” originally peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in 1979. In September 2024, 45 years later, the track earned 3.8 million official on-demand U.S. streams and earned 2,000 downloads.
Arguably the most iconic scene from the original Beetlejuice film is a musical number, when Catherine O’Hara’s Delia Deetz and her dinner guests lip sync Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O” and break into dance. The newly-released sequel film, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, opts for “Tragedy” in one of its big music moments.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, screenwriter Alfred Gough shared that the song was meant to be in the film from the start. “It’s just one of those songs,” he shares. “I remember getting that album when I was 11 or 12. Of all the Bee Gees songs, that one has always been an earworm. So when we were coming up with that sequence, trying to think of what could play while Dolores [Monica Bellucci] is putting her body back together and killing the janitor, it just sort of felt right.”
“Tragedy” additionally featured in one of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s pre-release trailers.
The film also prominently features Richard Harris’ recording of “MacArthur Park,” which landed at number nine on the Top Movie Songs chart. Other entries from Beetlejuice Beetlejuice include Jimmy Buffet’s “Margaritaville” at number five, Richard Marx’s “Right Here Waiting” at number six, and Donna Summer’s version of “MacArthur Park” at number ten.
Listen to the best of the Bee Gees now.
