A new US chart record has been set by the UK band ‘Glass Animals’ with their slow-burning indie hit Heat Waves reaching the top 10 after 42 weeks in the top 100.
The band was also nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2017 and had crushed Carrie Underwood’s previous record for the longest run to the top 10.
Carrie Underwood’s song, Before He Cheats, took 38 weeks to reach that spot in 2007.
Gradually Heat Waves continued to rise from number 13 to the 10th spot on this week’s Billboard Hot 100.
The song was streamed more than 15 million times in the US the previous week and was heard by more than 30 million radio listeners.
It was originally released as a single in June 2020 and then it snuck into the US singles chart in 100th place this January.
The track has had a similar steady path in the UK, where it reached the top five for the first time last month after 40 weeks in the top 75.
It has also topped the Australian chart. Its tortoise-like rise to mainstream success is all thanks to its rising popularity on TikTok. The users, including the band themselves, posted videos attached to the song’s refrain “All I think about is you”.
According to Republic Records, Heat Waves is now the most successful song of the year around the world by a contemporary British band.
Heat Waves was featured on the band’s third album Dreamland. They have since released four more singles but this one gained more attention.
The songwriter and producer – Frontman Dave Bayley told the BBC it had its genesis as far back as May 2018.
“We were winding down from touring our second album and I hired a studio in north London called The Church,” he explained in April.
“I was in the little basement room, which used to be the kitchen – and I’ve recently found out that’s where Bob Dylan used to sit and write. He only wanted to be in the kitchen, apparently.
“Anyway, I spent all day there… but I was fishing and catching rubbish. At the end of the day, I was ready to go home, but I just picked up a guitar to try one more time, and I just played those chords.”
