Earth, Wind & Fire Rule Top TV Songs Chart After ‘Virgin River’ Synch

The No. 1 song on Billboard’s Top TV Songs chart, powered by Tunefind, for September 2023 is fitting: it’s “September,” by Earth, Wind & Fire.

Rankings for the Top TV Songs chart are based on song and show data provided by Tunefind and ranked using a formula blending that data with sales and streaming information tracked by Luminate during the corresponding period of September 2023.

“September” sported a synch in the latest season of Netflix’s Virgin River. The entire fifth season premiered Sept. 7, and the Earth, Wind & Fire classic was heard in the third episode.

In all, “September” received 19 million official on-demand U.S. streams and 8,000 downloads in September 2023, according to Luminate. Some of its metrics are also due to annual gains for the song (No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1979) each September around Sept. 21, corresponding with the track’s opening lyric.

Virgin River boasts three entries on Top TV Songs this month, with fellow third episode song “In the Shadows,” by Amy Stroup, bowing at No. 3, while Lily Allen’s cover of Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know,” heard in episode 10, appears at No. 8.

The top non-Virgin River entry, meanwhile, belongs to Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street,” which ranks at No. 2. Rafferty’s top-charting song on the Hot 100 (No. 2, June 1978), it appears in the second episode (Sept. 29) of new show The Continental, from Peacock, which is a newly released spinoff of the John Wick franchise.

Thanks to its The Continental synch, “Baker Street” earned 2.9 million streams and 1,000 downloads in September 2023.

Like Virgin River, The Continental also has three tracks on the latest Top TV Songs tally, with “Baker Street” followed by ZZ Top’s “La Grange” at No. 5 and Tommy James and the Shondells’ “Crimson and Clover” at No. 10.

Back to Earth, Wind & Fire: the group charts two songs on two different shows in September, as “Let’s Groove,” which appears at No. 6, was heard in HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.

See the full top 10, also featuring music from Wilderness and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, below.

Rank, Song, Artist, Series (Network)
1. “September,” Earth, Wind & Fire, Virgin River (Netflix)
2. “Baker Street,” Gerry Rafferty, The Continental (Peacock)
3. “In the Shadows,” Amy Stroup, Virgin River (Netflix)
4. “Gold,” Kiiara, Wilderness (Amazon Prime Video)
5. “La Grange,” ZZ Top, The Continental (Peacock)
6. “Let’s Groove,” Earth, Wind & Fire, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (HBO)
7. “Blue Monday,” New Order, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (AMC)
8. “Somewhere Only We Know,” Lily Allen, Virgin River (Netflix)
9. “Sacrilege,” Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wilderness (Amazon Prime Video)
10. “Crimson and Clover,” Tommy James and the Shondells, The Continental (Peacock)