The global fanfare surrounding the Stranger Things Season 5 finale has sparked an extraordinary resurgence for actor and musician Joe Keery, as his viral track “End of Beginning” climbed to No. 2 on Spotify’s Global Top 50 chart, recording 5.04 million streams in a single day.
Keery, who portrays beloved character Steve Harrington in the hit Netflix series, has seen renewed attention for his music released under the stage name Djo, following the emotional conclusion of the Duffer Brothers’ iconic sci-fi saga.
According to the latest Spotify rankings, End of Beginning currently sits just behind Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia”, while other major chart contenders include Golden from K-Pop Demon Hunters, Back to Friends by sombr, and Man I Need by Olivia Dean.
A Song Years in the Making
Although the track has exploded in popularity in 2026, End of Beginning is not new. The song was originally released on September 16, 2022, as part of Keery’s second studio album “Decide” under the independent label AWAL (Artists Without a Label). It was first performed live months earlier during a concert in Birmingham, Alabama on April 28, 2022.
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Add Hunterfly on GoogleThe song gained international traction in early 2024, earning chart placements across multiple countries, including entries on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. After its popularity surged on TikTok, it was officially re-released as a single on March 1, 2024, introducing the track to a new generation of listeners.
The Meaning Behind the Music
End of Beginning is a deeply nostalgic track inspired by Keery’s emotional connection to Chicago, capturing the universal feeling of returning home and the passage of time — themes that now resonate strongly with fans bidding farewell to Stranger Things.
Stranger Things Finale Drives the Surge
The renewed success of the song closely followed the release of the Stranger Things Season 5 finale, now streaming on Netflix. The final chapter stars Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Sadie Sink, Caleb McLaughlin, Winona Ryder, and Jamie Campbell Bower, bringing one of television’s most influential series to an emotional close.
As audiences across the world celebrate the end of an era, Joe Keery’s End of Beginning has become the unofficial anthem of the moment — a fitting soundtrack to both nostalgia and new beginnings.
