A Harpenden Just Stop Oil protester has overtaken the likes of Dua Lipa and The Beatles to hit number one on the UK iTunes Singles Chart.
Louise Harris’s new climate single We Tried hit No.1 in the UK iTunes Singles Chart one week after its release.
The climate anthem has been backed by music producer Brian Eno and chief negotiator of the 2015 Paris Agreement Christiana Figueres.
All proceeds of the song will be donated to climate causes.
A music video accompanying the song has been shared by celebrities Chris Packham, Brian Eno, Adam McKay, Christiana Figueres and Dave Goulson.
The video concludes with the statement: "It’s not too late to avoid irreversible climate catastrophe.
“There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.”
Louise has previously been known for being the Just Stop Oil protestor who filmed herself crying on top of a gantry over the M25.
She was later charged with causing a public nuisance.
More recently, she was arrested for performing her new single outside Rishi Sunak's house.
Louise explained the single: "I wrote We Tried back in July 2022, three days after my 24th birthday, an age which children born today may never reach.
"The song expresses feelings of grief, anger, a longing to be taken somewhere else, and exhaustion at living in a world where you are constantly being gaslit – by the media, politicians, and, hardest of all, by people you love.
"The message of my song and video is this: The climate crisis affects me and my family, you and yours. No one is exempt.
"It has been created by a few handfuls of people in power who, I’ve concluded, must not know what love is. But what matters is – I know what love is. You know what love is. We know. And together, we outnumber the people in power eight billion times over.
"Where are all the songs and films and plays about this life-threatening emergency? Music and art have a unique power to move people emotionally, and empower them into action.
"Historically, they have been instrumental in bringing about social change, in sparking revolutions. It’s time to do it again. After all – if art can’t change the world, what can?”
Broadcaster Chris Packham praised Louise's song and the impact that it can have.
He commented: "It’s a beautiful song.
"It’s melodic. It’s ‘catchy’, it’s ’pop’, it’s ’sing-along’. It’s lovely, isn’t it…?
"No, it isn’t. It’s f*cking horrific, terrifying and tragic.
"Listen to it, hear every desperate note, each lingering plea.
"Don’t just look at, see the pictures. Read the music, read the room, our planet’s youth in abject distress.
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"This is their voice, their cry, their tears laid bare."
Meanwhile music producer Brian Eno - who has worked with Coldplay and U2 - spoke of the power of the single.
He added: "We need to wake up to the cowardly inertia of our governments, to the greedy shortsightedness of business-as-usual, and to the numbing distractions of the media.
"This song woke me up. I hope it gets centuries of airtime.”
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