Glass Animals cap the longest trip to No. 1 in the 12-year history of Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart with “Heat Waves,” which takes over atop the Sept. 11-dated ranking.
The song reaches No. 1 in its 60th week on the chart, breaking the record for the longest ascent to the top previously held by Twenty One Pilots’ “Ride” (47 weeks, 2015-16).
“Heat Waves” reigns with 16.1 million U.S. streams (up 40%), 6 million radio audience impressions and 3,500 downloads sold (up 74%) in the Aug. 27-Sept. 2 tracking period, according to MRC Data.
Sparking the surge that puts it over the top on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, the track remains viral on TikTok, with an added boost from the more recent #allithinkaboutisyou trend on the platform, playing off the song’s lyrical hook. The trend has swelled since late August.
Glass Animals notch their first Hot Rock & Alternative Songs No. 1 among 15 entries. They’ve also hit the top 10 with “Your Love (Deja Vu),” which debuted and peaked at No. 10 in March 2020.
Concurrently, “Heat Waves” rebounds for an eighth week at No. 1 on Alternative Streaming Songs and rises 6-2 on Alternative Digital Song Sales. It ruled Alternative Airplay for three weeks beginning in March and crossed over to peaks of No. 16 on Pop Airplay and No. 19 on Adult Pop Airplay.
The song, which jumps 33-23 on the all-format, multi-metric Billboard Hot 100 after hitting No. 19 in July, also becomes Glass Animals first No. 1 on the multi-metric Hot Alternative Songs chart, which began in June 2020.
“Heat Waves” is the third radio single from Dreamland, Glass Animals’ third studio album, which also includes “Your Love.” The set debuted at No. 1 on the Top Rock Albums chart in August 2020 and has earned 591,000 equivalent album units to date.
