On This Day: David Bowie Released "Space Oddity"

David Bowie’s masterful single “Space Oddity” was recorded in June 1969, and released on July 11th that same year.

With intentional, yet impeccable timing, the release of the single coincided with great interest around space travel at the time, and was released just just nine days before Apollo 11 landed on the moon.

It took some time before the song accelerated into popularity; “Space Oddity” was David Bowie’s first single to chart in the UK, and went on to become his first Top 40 hit in the U.S.

The song regained popularity in 2013 when Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield sang and video-recorded the hit at the International Space Station, amassing 36 million views on Youtube.

With the shock and dismay that came with the news of David Bowie’s passing, the world tuned-in again, allowing “Space Oddity” to re-enter the singles chart worldwide in January 2016.