Masked Wolf’s ‘Astronaut In The Ocean’ Hits Spotify Milestone
Masked Wolf’s “Astronaut In The Ocean” is now a member of Spotify’s billion streams club.
Aside from considerable bragging rights, Masked Wolf (real name Harry George) and producer-songwriter Tyron Hapi now have a special place among the streaming elite — a slot on Spotify’s “Billions Club” playlist.
That playlist launched in June 2021 with more than 150 song; today, the tally stands at 292 and includes several numbers by Australian artists, including Sia, 5 Seconds of Summer, Tame Impala, and Tones And I.
The 31-year-old Sydney rapper is taking a moment to savor this unexpected moment.
“Not in a thousand years did I ever think I would achieve this, I dreamt of 1 million, I dreamt of just being paid $500 a week and being able to do music full time, I said to myself I would be happy with that,” reads a social post. “Thank you to every person from every country that listened.. 1 BILLL.”
“Astronaut” has been flying high since it went viral on TikTok in late 2020, a full 18 months after its initial release through Teamwrk Records.
The tune became a global chart hit, hitting No. 1 in eight markets and spending 22 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 6.
Not in a thousand years did I ever think I would achieve this, I dreamt of 1 million, I dreamt of just being paid $500 a week and being able to do music full time, I said to myself I would be happy with that. Thank you to every person from every country that listened.. 1 BILLL pic.twitter.com/bzmLuVX7eb
— Masked Wolf (@maskedwolfmusic) September 12, 2022
In his homeland, Masked Wolf’s breakout track peaked at No. 4 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and logged four months in the Top 10.
In June 2021, the song hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart, meaning Wolf had the biggest hip-hop number in the world’s biggest hip-hop market.
ARIA and APRA Award nominations came, and, in late 2021, the Aussie rapper and Hapi (who is represented by BMG Rights Management Australia) were inducted into APRA AMCOS’ The 1,000,000,000 List, a special honour that recognises more than 1 billion streams across all legitimate streaming platforms (including Spotify).
“Astronaut” appeared on Masked Wolf’s debut mixtape Astronomical, which dropped in September 2021.