Glass Animals have become the first British band to top the daily global Spotify streaming charts, with their single Heat Waves currently amassing 4.26m plays a day on the platform.
The milestone comes 10 years into the band’s career and their song is the definition of a slow-burn hit: originally released in June 2020, it took until October that year to sneak into the lower reaches of the official UK chart. It finally entered the Top 40 in February 2021, and by October it had made its way into the Top 5.
The breezy, summery song – which blends dream-pop vocals with crisp rap-style production – performed even more highly in the US, reaching No 3 there, where it currently stands. It had the longest climb to the Top 10 in US chart history, at 42 weeks.
Heat Waves has a sole songwriter, Dave Bayley, making it the first Spotify chart-topping song since Pharrell’s Happy in 2014 to be written by a single person.
Bayley fronts the Oxford-formed quartet, who released their debut EP in 2012. After touring heavily on both sides of the Atlantic, they had their first major success with second album How to Be a Human Being in 2016, which reached the US Top 20 and was nominated for the Mercury prize. Third album Dreamland, which features Heat Waves and was recorded after drummer Joe Seaward recovered from a serious cycling accident, reached No 2 in the UK and No 7 in the US.
Heat Waves is nominated for best single and Glass Animals are nominated for best rock/alternative act at this year’s Brit awards.
