Total eclipse prompts revival of Bonnie Tyler hit

The song was first released in 1983 and became a massive hit for Bonnie Tyler

Every now and then, the charts get overshadowed by the return of a true classic.

Forty years after it was released, Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart has had an overnight revival.

While millions of people in North America looked to the skies on Monday to witness a total solar eclipse, it seems Bonnie was providing the soundtrack.

As the moon covered the sun, there was a sudden spike in online searches and downloads of the 1983 power ballad.

Who is Bonnie Tyler?

Turn around at any karaoke night and there'll usually be someone belting out a Bonnie Tyler hit.

The Welsh icon was born in a council house in Skewen, Neath Port Talbot, as Gaynor Hopkins.

After being discovered singing in a club in Swansea at 17, she went on to sign with the same record label as Elvis Presley.

Then Total Eclipse of the Heart came along in 1983 - and her career took off and she became an international success.

She went on to have a number of hits including Holding Out For A Hero in 1984, and even represented the UK at Eurovision in 2013.

What's a total eclipse?

A total solar eclipse happens about every 18 months.

It's when the moon moves between the Earth and the sun, blocking the light of the sun as it passes, turning daylight into darkness.

Total eclipses are often seen in unpopulated or remote areas.

But on Monday, one passed over several big cities across Mexico, the US and Canada.

A Total Eclipse of the Heart

Still touring at 72, Bonnie spoke last year about how she never gets tired of listening to the sound of her greatest hit.

"People often ask if I get fed up with singing Total Eclipse but of course I don't. I love it," she said.

When it was first released in 1983, it spent two weeks at number one in the UK and four weeks at the top of the charts in the US, as well as reaching number one in several countries.

Its music video has recently surpassed a billion hits on YouTube.

The song might sound like your typical '80s big hair power ballad, but its original story was a little darker.

The song was written and produced by Jim Steinman, who told Playbill in a 2002 interview that he wrote “Total Eclipse of the Heart” as a vampire love story.

“If anyone listens to the lyrics, they’re really like vampire lines. It’s all about the darkness, the power of darkness, and love’s place in the dark,” he said.