Australian artist Tones and I has made global music history, becoming the first female artist to hit three billion streams on Spotify.
Born and raised in Melbourne, the singer-songwriter’s 2019 hit song Dance Monkey has hit number one on charts in more than 30 countries around the world, including Australia.
The song has been streamed more than 10 billion times on all streaming services and, as of Thursday, more than three billion times on Spotify alone.
According to the streaming platform, Dance Monkey is the seventh most streamed song of all time. The six other songs that have surpassed the three-billion threshold are all from male artists either from North America or the UK.
Tones and I (Toni Watson), who is currently touring with P!NK as the supporting act, celebrated the achievement in a post on Instagram.
“The 👏🏻 first👏🏻 female 👏🏻 in 👏🏻 the 👏🏻 WORLD,” she wrote in the caption.
Music agencies Lemon Tree Music and Artists Only, who co-manage Tones and I, told The Music in a statement they were “incredibly proud” of the Melbourne artist’s mammoth achievement.
“Seeing ones surpass seven billion global streams of Dance Monkey within 12 months since release is a monumental achievement, and we are incredibly proud of her,” they told The Music.
“The management team are very excited for what’s to come this year and can’t wait for the world to hear the songs Tones has written.”
In April 2020, about a year since its release, Dance Monkey became the most streamed song ever by a female artist on Spotify,
Tones and I is the only female artist to feature in the top 10 most streamed songs of all time on Spotify.
The singer-songwriter was born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria and began her music career busking in the streets while balancing a part-time job in retail. Tones and I busked up and down the east coast of Australia and, while busking in Byron Bay, was discovered by a talent agency.
Her first single Johnny Run Away featured on triple j’s full rotation in early 2019, before she released her second single, Dance Monkey, in May 2019. In November, Tones and I broke the record for the most weeks at number one on the ARIA Singles Chart by any artist. By January 2020, the song had topped the chart for 24 weeks.
Tones and I is currently touring with P!NK in Australia. Over 16 shows around the country, Tones and I will perform to 900,000 fans.
PHOTO CREDIT: Instagram @tonesandi