Why did it take Jeff Buckley 32 years to land a hit?
In the last week, Jeff Buckley posthumously achieved his first Billboard Hot 100 hit with his 1994 song, ‘Lover, You Should’ve Come Over’, from his groundbreaking debut album, Grace, nearly 29 years after his tragic passing at the age of 30.
From when the California-born singer-songwriter moved to Manhattan’s Lower East Side in pursuit of becoming a musician, he attracted a cult-like following. With a weekly performance at the East Village venue Sin-e, Buckley drew in crowds that would quite literally pour out into the streets, with the small space unable to handle so much fanfare. Record label executives situated themselves among the crowds with piqued interest, and soon, he and his band were on their way to recording Grace. Once the album was released to the world on August 23rd, 1994, Buckley experienced a gradual fame beginning to brew.
His album sales were leisurely, and the radio rarely played the singles, but Grace was critically acclaimed from the start. Buckley found admirers in his heroes – Jimmy Page stated in the TV documentary Jeff Buckley: Everybody Here Wants You that Grace came close to being his “favourite album of the decade” and, according to Buckley’s mom, Mary Guibert, Robert Plant was also a fan. His first North American tour saw The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde, U2’s The Edge and Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell among the fans in the audience, and he and Cornell would establish a friendship over the coming years.
Still, Buckley never quite broke through to the mainstream, and statistically, much of his success came after his passing. During his lifetime, Grace peaked at number 149 on the Billboard 200 in June of 1995, while the single ‘Last Goodbye’ went to number 19 the month before. Four of his posthumous releases also charted on the Billboard 200.
Now, Buckley has finally earned a Hot 100 spot: as Billboard reports, citing Luminate, ‘Lover, You Should’ve Come Over’ reached the chart largely due to its streaming sum, with 3.8 million official US streams during the late January tracking week.
Today, as younger generations rediscover Buckley’s music for themselves, his cult following has grown even stronger, in large part thanks to internet culture. ‘Lover, You Should’ve Come Over’ became a short-form video sensation on the likes of TikTok and Instagram, accompanying videos of personal heartbreaks and sadness, and in memoriams of Buckley, alike. For a while now, it has been rare to scroll through my algorithm without eventually hearing Buckley’s unforgettable wail of “It’s never over / She is the tear that hangs inside my soul forever,” from the song’s bridge.
‘Lover, You Should’ve Come Over’ was not a single from Grace, but it has since taken on a life of its own. Its lyrics were inspired by the demise of Buckley’s relationship with his then-partner Rebecca Moore, and the result is yearning and mournful as Buckley grapples with the inability to accept what has ended. Lines like “My kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder” and “All my blood for the sweetness of her laughter” stand as some of Buckley’s most beautiful, and the song itself stands as a beacon of his musicianship.
To think that Buckley’s music finally reached a level of Top 100 success over three decades after its release (and nearly three decades after his passing) is a cruel twist of fate, as with any musician who achieves levels of fame that they did not get to experience during their lifetime. But, if we can glean anything from the footage, interviews and testimonials of Buckley’s personality, one can imagine that chart statistics would not weigh heavily on his mind, as he was an artist who created out of sheer passion and love for music.
Though his time on Earth was painfully brief, Buckley’s impact continues to reverberate with an unwavering resonance, and whether you were introduced to his music through the algorithms on your phones, from spotting Grace in a record store, or some other fateful moment, you’ll never forget the first time you heard a Jeff Buckley song.
