Glass Animals secure US chart record with viral hit Heat Waves
The Oxford indie band’s sleeper hit has been slowly climbing the US singles chart.
Glass Animals have secured a new US chart record for the longest climb into the top 10 of the Billboard singles chart with their track Heat Waves.
The Oxford-based band have reached the tenth spot of the Billboard Hot 100 after 42 weeks in the chart, the longest trip to the top spot in its 63-year history.
The Mercury Prize nominees beat American Idol winner Carrie Underwood’s Before He Cheats, who held the previous record of 38 weeks.
The sleeper hit, first released in June 2020, secured the landmark achievement after it climbed from 13th to number 10 this week.
The track from their third album Dreamland, released in 2020, initially gained traction on the social media app TikTok.
It reached fifth on the UK singles chart in the summer after a similarly drawn-out journey over 35 weeks, according to the Official Charts Company.
This comes on the back of the band being nominated in October for two American Music Awards for favourite pop duo or group and favourite rock artist.
Frontman Dave Bayley formed the indie four-piece in Oxford in 2010, with childhood friend Joe Seaward, Ed Irwin-Singer and Drew MacFarlane.
Their debut studio album Zaba was released in 2014 and peaked at number 92 on the UK album chart.
The follow-up record, 2016’s How To Be A Human Being, charted at number 23 and was nominated for the 2017 Mercury Prize.
Dreamland became their highest-charting record to date after it reached number two in the UK album chart.
The group released the follow-up single to their breakthrough hit, I Don’t Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance), in September which will be the lead track on the deluxe edition of Dreamland (+ Bonus Levels).
The band discussed the inspiration for the third album with the PA news agency in August 2020, reflecting that the record tackles the cost of toxic masculinity and the nervous excitement of a burgeoning relationship.
Bayley said the band’s drummer Seaward had collided with a lorry while cycling in Dublin in 2018 which resulted in a broken leg and he suffered a complex skull fracture.
Bayley remained at his bandmate’s bedside in the weeks following the crash, and he noted that the collective trauma of that time also permeates Dreamland.
