Pet Shop Boys are just as cool in 2021 as they were in the 80s (Picture: Redferns)
Pet Shop Boys have enjoyed a huge resurgence this year thanks to their music providing the soundtrack to critically acclaimed series It’s A Sin.
The Channel 4 series shares its name with the Pet Shop Boys’ famous single, It’s A Sin, which spent three weeks at number one in 1987.
New data from the Official Charts Company shows that sales and streams of the song It’s A Sin have soared by 249% in the UK since the series debuted on January 22.
Compared to the same three-week period in 2020, it’s a pretty huge jump.
In the week after the show aired its first episode, the track saw an increase of 115% in sales and streams.
Weekly plays of It’s A Sin have more than doubled since its debut – the average weekly streams of It’s A Sin before the show aired was 93,000 a week in the UK.
However, since the series started three weeks ago, that figure has increased to an average of 310,000 plays a week.
It’s A Sin, which features on Pet Shop Boys’ album Actually, became their second number one song and was also the UK’s eighth best-selling single of 1987 after shifting half a million copies.
The series has proved to be groundbreaking TV with its approach to exploring the HIV/Aids crisis in the 1980s.
It’s A Sin has won applause for its handling of the HIV/Aids crisis (Picture: Channel 4)
Starring Years & Years singer Olly Alexander, the drama follows a group of young gay men in London as they embrace their sexuality and the growing health crisis.
Stephen Fry and Neil Patrick Harris make cameos in the series, which was created by Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies.
Olly and his Years & Years gang recently recorded a cover of Pet Shop Boys’ It’s A Sin with a portion of the proceeds going towards the George House Trust charity.
It features on the show’s official soundtrack alongside a bevy of 80s hits such as Kelly Marie’s Feels Like I’m In Love, Bronski Beat’s Smalltown Boy, and Enola Gay by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark.
It’s A Sin airs on Channel 4 and is also available to watch on All4.
