Australian indie artist Tones And I has officially broken the record for the most weeks on the top of the ARIA singles chart held by an Aussie. Her hit track ‘Dance Monkey’ has been sitting pretty at #1 for ten weeks in a row.
Tones And I, real name Toni Watson released her debut EP on August 30 of this year and is already making major waves in the industry. At the age of 19, she’s already breaking ARIA records and playing at the AFL Grand Final. Huge, if you ask me.
Her second single, ‘Dance Monkey’ broke the record previously held by Justice Crew, who’s hit track ‘Que Sera’ spent nine weeks at the top of the charts back in 2014. She’s also the only Australian artist to hold the number one spot on the ARIA Singles Chart in 2019 so far, which is another huge feat for the Byron local.
Along with breaking Justice Crew’s record, she’s also broken Kylie Minogue’s whopping 32-year record for most weeks at the top of the charts for an Australian female solo artist, which was previously held by Kylie’s ‘Locomotion’ from 1987-2019.
The only record she still has to beat is Ed Sheeran’s record for most weeks at number 1 of the Singles Chart, which is currently at 15 non-consecutive weeks for his 2017 track ‘Shape of You’. If you worked in a cafe or a clothing store in 2017 like I did, this song is probably permanently etched in your brain.
She took to Instagram to share the big news with a selfie.
In a few short months, the 19-year-old has gone from busking in the streets of Byron Bay to breaking records held by the honorary Queen of Australia, Kylie fucking Minogue. Her debut EP The Kids Are Coming also charted at #3 on the Albums Chart, while her other singles ‘Johnny Run Away’ and ‘Never Seen The Rain’ charted at #36 and #23 respectively.
“I am so thankful to Australia for all the support, this song was written for my friends at the Byron bay backpackers, little did I know the whole country would be dancing to it, wow,” Toni said of the achievement.
In less than a year, Watson’s music career has exploded, with over 250 million streams globally, 175 million of which were from this month alone.
