Glass Animals formed in Oxford, England, around 2010 and spent a decade as a respected, slightly leftfield indie band: well-reviewed albums, a loyal live following, the festival circuit. Then "Heat Waves" happened, and it rewrote the shape of their career.
Released in June 2020 on their third album, Dreamland, the track did not detonate so much as smoulder. Carried by TikTok and steady radio play, it climbed for more than a year, eventually topping the US Billboard Hot 100 in March 2022 after a record-breaking 59-week ascent, the longest climb to number one in the chart's history.
That slow burn turned "Heat Waves" into a streaming juggernaut. It now sits near 3.7 billion plays, while the band's next most-streamed song, "Gooey" from their 2014 debut, has gathered around 415 million. The catalogue behind the hit is real and well loved, but nothing else comes close.
By our measure that gap is decisive. The ratio between the hit and the runner-up lands at about 8.96, comfortably past our 5.0 line, so Glass Animals are a certified one-hit wonder. It is a label about streaming shape, not about talent or craft. For the full numbers and the story of that record-setting climb, read our breakdown.