Glass Animals make US chart history with ‘Heat Waves’

Glass Animals have set a US chart record with their single ‘Heat Waves’.

Released in summer 2020, the track appears on the Oxford band’s third studio album ‘Dreamland’.

The song has reached Number 10 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 for the first time, having spent 42 weeks on the chart. It’s the longest climb to the top 10 in US chart history – beating American Idol winner Carrie Underwood, whose 2006 single ‘Before He Cheats’ took 38 weeks to reach the same position.

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In the latest update (the week of November 13), ‘Heat Waves’ sits between ‘Good 4 U’ by Olivia Rodrigo (Number Nine) and ‘Levitating’ by Dua Lipa (Number 11). It’s Glass Animals’ first US Top 10 single, as well as their first-ever track to chart on the Hot 100.

Per the Official Chart Company, ‘Heat Waves’ peaked at Number Five in the UK over this summer. It took 35 consecutive weeks to reach the Top 10.

The single’s slow-burning success has been attributed to an increase in popularity on TikTok. Earlier this year, fans shared video clips on the platform based around the ‘Heat Waves’ line, “Sometimes, all I think about is you.

Glass Animals also transformed the single into a sea shanty as part of an online craze.

Meanwhile, London Grammar recorded a down-tempo cover of ‘Heat Waves’ for a recent Deezer live session.

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Back in September, Glass Animals returned with a new single called ‘I Don’t Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)’ – their first release since last year’s ‘Dreamland’.






Speaking about the inspiration behind the track, frontman Dave Bayley explained: “Talking is great, don’t get me wrong. But this pandemic has made so many of us look inwards in a way we maybe haven’t before.

“The uncertainty in the world and the inability to go out and create new memories makes you dig deep into the past. It really fed people’s deepest insecurities and rattled our foundations in so many ways. Relationships changed, friendships altered, and self-confidence was warped.”