The Sleeper Hit That Wouldn’t Quit
#HeatWaves by Glass Animals took over a year to climb to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming one of the longest-charting songs in history and defining the “slow burn” streaming era hit.
Initial Release
Released June 29, 2020, from the album Dreamland, “Heat Waves” initially received modest attention. The dreamy, nostalgic track about lost connection resonated differently as the pandemic stretched on.
The TikTok Effect
In late 2020, the song found new life on TikTok through various trends:
- Nostalgia/throwback compilations
- Relationship longing videos
- “Sometimes all I think about is you” lyric trend
- Minecraft speedrun soundtrack (Dream’s viral runs)
Historic Chart Run
- Peaked at #1 in March 2022 (59 weeks after release)
- Spent 91 weeks on Billboard Hot 100
- First song by a British group to top Alternative Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay, Pop Airplay, and Hot 100 simultaneously
Pandemic Anthem
The lyrics “sometimes all I think about is you / late nights in the middle of June” captured pandemic isolation and yearning perfectly, making it the unofficial soundtrack to locked-down relationships.
By 2024, “Heat Waves” had over 3 billion Spotify streams, proving that virality doesn’t require an instant explosion.
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