Glass Animals’ ‘Heat Waves’ Completes Record Run to No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100 (2024)

A song released in 2020, and about late nights in the middle of June, reaches No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March 2022.

Glass Animals‘ “Heat Waves” hits No. 1 on the Hot 100, completing a record-breaking rise to the summit, leading in its 59th week on the chart. It shatters the prior mark of 35 weeks on the survey needed to reign, set by Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” in December 2019.

Over its unprecedented run, “Heat Waves” has ruled multiple radio formats and become prominent on TikTok and streaming services.

The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data. All charts (dated March 12, 2022) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (March 8). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

“Heat Waves,” released on Wolf Tone/Polydor/Republic Records, becomes the 1,134th No. 1 in the Hot 100’s 63-year history. It’s the first leader (and entry) on the chart for the quartet, which comprises Dave Bayley, Edmund Irwin-Singer, Drew MacFarlane and Joe Seaward. The band is nominated for the best new artist Grammy Award this year; it formed in Oxford, England, in 2010 and first appeared on Billboard‘s charts in 2014.

Here’s an in-depth look at the song’s record-rewriting Hot 100 coronation.

Airplay, streams & sales: “Heat Waves” drew 66.7 million radio airplay audience impressions (down 3%) and 14.8 million U.S. streams (up 1%) and sold 2,900 downloads (down 4%) in the Feb. 25-March 3 tracking week, according to MRC Data.

The single holds at its No. 2 high on the Radio Songs chart, rebounds, 6-5, to its best rank on Streaming Songs and dips 23-25 on Digital Song Sales, where it reached No. 13.

Record run to No. 1: “Heat Waves” tops the Hot 100 in its 59th week on the chart, soaring past the prior mark for the lengthiest climb to No. 1.

Longest Climbs to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100
59 weeks, “Heat Waves,” Glass Animals, hit No. 1 March 12, 2022
35 weeks, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Mariah Carey, Dec. 21, 2019
33 weeks, “Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix),” Los Del Rio, Aug. 3, 1996
31 weeks, “Amazed, Lonestar, March 4, 2000
30 weeks, “All of Me,” John Legend, May 17, 2014
27 weeks, “With Arms Wide Open,” Creed, Nov. 11, 2000
26 weeks, “Everything You Want,” Vertical Horizon, July 15, 2000
25 weeks, “Red Red Wine,” UB40, Oct. 25, 1988

All eight songs above except for “With Arms Wide Open” and “Everything You Want” logged their journeys to No. 1 over interrupted runs. “Heat Waves” debuted on the Jan. 16, 2021-dated Hot 100; after two weeks off the chart, the song returned on the Feb. 6 survey and has remained on since.

Put in further perspective, “Heat Waves” is just the 23rd title to have even spent 59 or more weeks on the Hot 100 overall, regardless of peak position; that’s out of around 30,000 entries in the chart’s archives.

On the Nov. 13, 2021, Hot 100, “Heat Waves” wrapped a record 42-week trek to the top 10, while on the Jan. 15, 2022, chart it completed a record 51-week rise to the top five. The song has made its steady progress as a crossover airplay hit, having topped the Alternative Airplay chart for three weeks in March-April 2021 and Pop Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay for two weeks each this January and February. Dating to its release in June 2020, the song also gained prominence on TikTok, playing off its “all I think about is you” lyrical hook. It trended especially strongly on the platform in late summer 2021, including via a clip from the band. (Activity on TikTok itself does not factor into any Billboard charts.)

“Glass Animals have songs that have real longevity in them, because they’re brilliant songs and Dave [Bayley] is a brilliant songwriter, but there’s a lot of nuance in them,” the group’s manager, Amy Morgan, told Billboard in January. “Heat Waves” “has a lot of interesting chords underneath the main melody, and there’s a lot of complexity in what sounds, from the outside, quite simple. And those songs – those that are not straight out-of-the-box, obvious songs – take a while to grow.”

Single writer & producer at No. 1: Glass Animals’ Dave Bayley solely wrote and produced “Heat Waves,” making it the first Hot 100 leader written and produced by a single talent since Pharrell Williams wrote, produced and performed “Happy,” which reigned for 10 weeks beginning eight years ago this week (March 8, 2014). Before that, will.i.am wrote and produced, and is featured on, Usher’s “OMG,” which led for four weeks in May-June 2010.

The last group to top the Hot 100 with a song solely written and produced by one of its members before Glass Animals? Boston, whose “Amanda” led for two weeks in November 1986. The band’s frontman, Tom Scholz, wrote and produced the rock ballad.

Started from the bottom: As “Heat Waves” debuted on the Jan. 16, 2021-dated Hot 100 at No. 100, the track completes a rare 100-to-1 odyssey on the Hot 100.

Here’s a recap of all 11 singles that have summited the chart after starting on the first step (an eclectic list whose previous two entries, coincidentally, belong to Wiz Khalifa).

Hot 100 No. 1s That Debuted at No. 100
“Heat Waves,” Glass Animals, hit No. 1 March 12, 2022
“See You Again,” Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth, April 25, 2015
“Black and Yellow,” Wiz Khalifa, Feb. 19, 2011
“Kiss Kiss,” Chris Brown feat. T-Pain, Nov. 10, 2007
“Can’t Help Falling in Love,” UB40, July 24, 1993
“The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” Vicki Lawrence, April 7, 1973
“When a Man Loves a Woman,” Percy Sledge, May 28, 1966
“Go Away Little Girl,” Steve Lawrence, Jan. 12, 1963
“Michael,” The Highwaymen, Sept. 4, 1961
“Teen Angel,” Mark Dinning, Feb. 8, 1960
“Kansas City,” Wilbert Harrison, May 18, 1959

Notably, the soundtrack to Disney’s Encanto crowns the Billboard 200 albums chart for an eighth week. As the set debuted at No. 197, this week marks the first in which the Hot 100’s top song is a title that bowed at No. 100 and the Billboard 200’s top album is one that began as low as No. 197. That marks an extreme outlier in an era in which titles regularly debut at No. 1 on both charts; of the 58 singles ever to have launched atop the Hot 100, 23 have done so since April 2020, while on the Billboard 200, 23 releases premiered at No. 1 in 2021, after 29 did so in 2020 and 37 did in both 2019 and 2018.

Alternative route to No. 1: “Heat Waves” also marks an uncommon Hot 100 No. 1 that previously led Billboard‘s Alternative Airplay chart. The song is the first to have topped both tallies since Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy,” which led the Alternative Airplay charts dated Aug. 10 and 17, 2019, and the Hot 100 dated that Aug. 24. Before Eilish, Lorde led both lists with “Royals” in 2013.

Until this week, no group had ruled Alternative Airplay and the Hot 100 with the same song since fun., with “We Are Young” in 2012. (That track topped the Hot 100 before Alternative Airplay; “Heat Waves” is the first song by a group to lead Alternative Airplay and, subsequently, the Hot 100 since Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me” in 2001.)

Meanwhile, “Heat Waves” is just the 10th Hot 100 No. 1 to have topped Alternative Airplay, dating to the latter list’s launch in September 1988. (The elite 10 Hot 100 No. 1s are among 413 total Alternative Airplay leaders to-date, placing “Heat Waves” in the company of just 2% of all Alternative Airplay No. 1s to achieve such a double domination.)

Hot 100 No. 1s That Have Also Led Alternative Airplay
“Heat Waves,” Glass Animals, 2021-22
“Bad Guy,” Billie Eilish, 2019
“Royals,” Lorde, 2013
“We Are Young,” fun. feat. Janelle Monae, 2012
“Somebody That I Used to Know,” Gotye feat. Kimbra, 2012
“Viva La Vida,” Coldplay, 2008
“How You Remind Me,” Nickelback, 2001-02
“Butterfly,” Crazy Town, 2001
“One Week,” Barenaked Ladies, 1998
“Nothing Compares 2 U,” Sinead O’Connor, 1990

“Heat Waves” concurrently crowns the and Hot Alternative Songs charts, both of which use the same multi-metric methodology as the Hot 100, for a 24th week each.

British acts at No. 1: Glass Animals continue a recent trend of British artists leading the Hot 100. Half of the last six No. 1s, dating to October, include British acts, as “Heat Waves” follows Adele’s “Easy on Me,” which reigned for 10 weeks, and “My Universe,” by England’s Coldplay and South Korea’s BTS, a one-week No. 1.

Fellow British acts Ed Sheeran, Elton John and Dua Lipa join Glass Animals and Adele in the current Hot 100’s top 10 (see all other ranks below).

“Breaking in the U.S. is as important and coveted as ever,” mused Martin Talbot, CEO of the U.K.’s Official Charts Company, in November. “The U.S. is where blues and then rock n’ roll were born, and many of the heroes of music fans and creators hail from America’s rich music culture.”

Glass ceiling: Thanks to Glass Animals, the word “glass” shines atop the Hot 100 in an act’s name for the second time: Looking Glass led with “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” nearly 50 years ago, on the Aug. 26, 1972, chart.

Let’s also not gloss over the three songs with “glass” in their titles to top the Hot 100: “Judy in Disguise (With Glasses),” by John Fred and the Playboys, in 1968; “Heart of Glass,” by Blondie, in 1979; and “Raise Your Glass,” by P!nk, in 2010.

Meanwhile, chart-watcher Pablo Nelson notes that another Glass-named animal act almost hit No. 1 on the Hot 100: Glass Tiger leapt to No. 2 with “Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)” in 1986. Nelson also points out that Martha & the Vandellas’ “Heat Wave” hit No. 4 in 1963, while Linda Ronstadt’s cover rose to No. 5 in 1975. Plus, famed R&B group Heatwave notched three Hot 100 hits in 1977-78: “Boogie Nights” (No. 2), “Always and Forever” (No. 18) and “The Groove Line” (No. 7).

This week also marks the first in which a song with the word “heat” in its title is hottest on the Hot 100. (The word “hot” last appeared in a Hot 100 No. 1 thanks to Mims’ “This Is Why I’m Hot” in 2007.)

Below “Heat Waves,” “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” from Encanto, slips to No. 2 on the Hot 100 after five weeks at No. 1, the longest reign ever for a song from a Disney film. The track, by Carolina Gaitán, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz and the Encanto Cast (all singing as the characters that they voice in the movie), tops Streaming Songs for a ninth week (26.3 million, down 12%) and rises 5-4 on Digital Song Sales (6,100, down 8%), while gaining by 12% to 8.9 million in all-format radio audience.

Meanwhile, as “Bruno” was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and “Heat Waves” by Dave Bayley, the Hot 100 sports back-to-back solo-penned No. 1s for the first time in nearly 22 years: Vertical Horizon’s “Everything You Want,” written by the group’s Matt Scannell, and Matchbox Twenty’s “Bent,” authored by the band’s Rob Thomas, led consecutively in July 2000.

(“Normally, writing a song takes a good day to get into shape, but [“Heat Waves”] happened in an hour late at night,” Bayley recalled in early 2021.)

GAYLE’s breakthrough hit “abcdefu” holds at its No. 3 Hot 100 best. It spends a third week at No. 1 on Digital Song Sales (10,500 sold, up 27%), keeps at its No. 5 high on Radio Songs (61.3 million, up 6%) and lifts 9-8 on Streaming Songs (12.8 million, down 4%).

Kodak Black’s “Super Gremlin” hits a new No. 4 Hot 100 high, as it leads the multi-metric and Hot Rap Songs charts for a seventh week each. As previously reported, parent album Back For Everything opens at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber’s “Stay” rebounds 6-5 on the Hot 100, after seven weeks at No. 1, and Adele’s “Easy on Me” drops 4-6, after 10 weeks on top. The latter leads Radio Songs for a 15th week (67.8 million, down 8%), extending Adele’s longest stay atop the tally. It’s also one of only six titles to have ruled Radio Songs for at least 15 weeks, dating to the list’s December 1990 inception; The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” reigned for a record 26 weeks in April-October 2020.

The rest of the songs in the Hot 100’s top 10 repeat their ranks from a week earlier, with Justin Bieber’s “Ghost” at its No. 7 highpoint (as it becomes his fifth No. 1 on Adult Pop Airplay) and Ed Sheeran’s “Shivers” at No. 8, after hitting No. 4, and “Bad Habits” at No. 9, after reaching No. 2.

Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Elton John and Dua Lipa’s “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)” is steady at No. 10, after rising to No. 7. John expands his span of top 10s to 51 years, one month and two weeks, dating to his first frame in the top 10 with “Your Song” (Jan. 23, 1971), the longest such span among all acts not involving holiday titles. “Cold Heart” leads the multi-metric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for a 21st week.

Again, for all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram and all charts (dated March 12), including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh on Billboard.com tomorrow (March 8).

MRC Data, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes an exhaustive and thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling weekly chart rankings. MRC Data reviews and authenticates data, removing any suspicious or unverifiable activity using established criteria before final chart calculations are made and published. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious and unverifiable is disqualified prior to final calculations.