Glass Animals’ ‘Heat Waves’ has broken the record for longest Billboard Hot 100 run

Glass Animals‘ hit 2020 single ‘Heat Waves’ has officially broken the record for most weeks in the Billboard Hot 100, making it the longest-charting song in history.

The song has entered its 91st week in the chart, officially beating the previously-held record of 90 by The Weeknd‘s ‘Blinding Lights’. The Weeknd himself broke the previously-established record just last year, overtaking Imagine Dragons – who spent 87 weeks on the chart with their 2012 song ‘Radioactive’.

In a press statement to Billboard, the band’s frontman Dave Bayley remarked: “Wow, all I can say is wow.

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“Many of you know [that] when I wrote this song, I was writing about missing someone I loved very dearly. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that it would lead to so much love and connection across the globe. You all have done that. Thank you to everyone who has helped this song reach so many people. You know who you are. Thank you.”

The new record, set yesterday (October 17), is the second overall for the hit. ‘Heat Waves’ also holds the unique distinction of being the song to have taken the longest to reach Number One after initially charting. It spent 59 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 before achieving the top spot, breaking the record previously set by Mariah Carey‘s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ at 35 weeks.

Away from the Billboard chart, the song was also the first by a UK band to top Spotify’s global singles chart. The song also came in first in the fan-voted triple j Hottest 100 of 2020 countdown in Australia. The band celebrated this victory by making good on a promise to get Australia tattooed on their arses.