News March 10, 2021

The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights’ beats Tones And I’s ‘Dance Monkey’ to IFPI Global Digital Single Award

The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights’ has beaten Australian singer-songwriter Tones And I’s ‘Dance Monkey’ to win 2020’s IFPI Global Digital Single Award.

The award is presented to the world’s best-selling single of the year across all digital formats – including single track downloads, and streams on both paid subscription services and ad-supported platforms.

‘Blinding Lights’ generated 2.72 billion global subscription stream equivalents, while ‘Dance Monkey’ was right behind with 2.34 billion.

Frances Moore, chief executive of IFPI, which represents the recorded music industry worldwide, said’ Blinding Lights’ was one of the year’s biggest record breakers and most loved songs.

“It caught the attention of music lovers all over the world,” Moore said. “We would like to congratulate The Weeknd on his success, and it is an honour to award him this title.”

‘Blinding Lights’ was the second single from The Weeknd’s fourth studio album After Hours, which was released in March 2020.

The single peaked at #1 in 34 countries across the globe, including Australia where it reached #1 on the ARIA Singles Chart and topped the end-of-year chart.

‘Blinding Lights’ also fuelled a viral TikTok dance challenge, and shattered records for the most weeks in both the Top 10 and Top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.

The Weeknd has appeared in the top 10 of IFPI’s Global Artist Chart in four of the last five years, and landed at #4 in this year’s chart, his best performance to date.

‘Dance Monkey’, first released in 2019, spent a second successive year in the world’s best-selling single Top 10 and improved its chart position versus last year (up from #6), a feat only matched by Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’ in 2018.

In November 2020, ‘Dance Monkey’ was declared the most Shazamed song of all time.