A ‘90s rock singer is seeing a resurgence in popularity 30 years after his death.
Jeff Buckley’s 1994 song “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over,” reached the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time this week, ranking No. 97 on the ranking of the 100 most popular songs in America. The track appeared on Buckley’s only studio album, “Grace,” released before his death in May 1997.
According to Billboard, “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over” tallied 3.8 million streams in the U.S. during the week of Jan. 16-22. Most of the streaming came from viral videos on TikTok, where users shared clips for emotional and introspective videos.
The track was never released as a single, but started gaining popularity in 2025 when the documentary “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley,” came out. Billboard notes “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over” briefly appeared on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart in April, then returned in July and has since stayed on the chart, peaking at No. 12.
The song’s popularity also helped Buckley’s “Grace” album return to the Billboard 200 chart, hitting No. 82 in December and No. 156 this week. The album, which featured the title track (co-written by Syracuse native Gary Lucas) and an iconic cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” originally peaked at No. 149 in 1995.
“Grace” was named one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone in 2021 and an updated version of the list in 2024. Buckley wrote the lyrics after saying goodbye to his girlfriend at the airport while Lucas, a Nottingham High School graduate, wrote “the searing, spiraling guitar line. The impact was like hearing Chet Baker reborn in the Nineties, playing a cool Lower East Side bar.”
“We had a kind of a magical year where we were really in sync,” Lucas told syracuse.com in 2021, reflecting on his collaborations with Buckley, which also included the song “Mojo Pin.”
“I was one of these guys who preferred the music, really, to the lyrical content,” Lucas added. “I think with most people it’s the other way around, right? The songs that tend to resonate with people resonate (because) … the lyrics express some universal sentiments.”
Lucas met Buckley in 1991 when they performed at a tribute concert for Jeff’s late father, the folk-jazz singer-songwriter Tim Buckley. The young singer-songwriter released his debut album in 1994 and died by accidental drowning in 1997, at age 30.
“It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley,” directed by Amy Berg, chronicled the singer’s life and career. The documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2025, briefly appeared in theaters in August and then began streaming on HBO Max in December.