"Dance Monkey" is a song by Australian singer

Tones and I Toni Watson, known professionally as Tones and I, is an Australian singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her breakout single, " Dance Monkey" (May 2019), reached number one in over 30 countries, including Australia. In November 2019, i ...

, released on 10 May 2019 as the second single (first in the US) from Tones and I's debut EP '' The Kids Are Coming''. The song was produced and mixed by

Konstantin Kersting Konstantin Kersting, is a multi ARIA award winning producer, songwriter and sound engineer. He has worked with a diverse range of artists, including Tones and I, Milky Chance, Mallrat, Spacey Jane, Amy Shark, The Jungle Giants, The Rubens, R3HA ...

. "Dance Monkey" topped the official singles charts in over 30 countries and peaked within the top ten of many others, including the United States. The song broke the record for the most weeks at number one on the Australian singles chart at 24 non-consecutive weeks. It also broke the record for the most weeks spent at the top of the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

by a female artist with 11 weeks at the top. When it hit number four in the US, it became the first top-five hit solely written by a woman in over eight years. The song has received a number of awards. It won Best Pop Release at the

ARIA Music Awards of 2019 The ARIA Music Awards of 2019 are the 33rd Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) and consist of a series of awards, including the 2019 ARIA Artisan Awards, ARIA ...

, Song of the Year at the

APRA Music Awards of 2020 The APRA Music Awards of 2020 are the 38th annual series, known as APRA Awards, in 2020. The awards are given in a series of categories in three divisions and in separate ceremonies throughout the year: the APRA Music Awards, Art Music Awards ...

and Independent Song of the Year at the

AIR Awards of 2020 The 2020 AIR Awards was the fourteenth annual Australian Independent Record Labels Association Music Awards ceremony (generally known as the AIR Awards). It took place on 1 October 2020 in Adelaide. The nominations were revealed on 7 July 2020 ...

. It was also the Grand Prize winner of the 2019 International Songwriting Competition.

Lyrics

When interviewed by DJ Smallzy in July 2019 on Australian radio station Nova FM, Tones explained that Dance Monkey's lyrics are about the relationship she had with her audience when she was

busking Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...

(street performing) on the streets of Australia: "I wrote this song when I was busking, and about the pressure that I felt to always be entertaining people on the street. And if they didn't like it, when they looked at their phones they could just click something else; ... we are all so used to being entertained at the click of a button." "So when you're uskingon the street, .. to command

our Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of " we" * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a government utility regulato ...

attention, people would be like: 'again! again!' .. 'more! more!' .. or they would just leave. So if you replace he lyric 'dance for me, dance for me' with 'sing for me, sing for me,' it's pretty literal," she said.

Music video

The music video was produced by Visible Studios, directed by Liam Kelly and Nick Kozakis and released on 24 June 2019. The video follows "Mr. Tones" (

), an elderly man who sneaks out of his home to have a dance party at a golf course with other senior citizens. Due to the overcast weather on the day of filming, every shot of the music video had its sky replaced digitally. In 2020 it was added to

APRA billion streams list The APRA billion streams list or The 1,000,000,000 list was established in 2019 by APRA AMCOS (Australasian Performing Right Association and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society) to acknowledge Australasian songwriters whose works have ...

. Note: Non-Australasian co-writers are not shown. As of October 2022, the video has over 1.9 billion views on YouTube. The music video was filmed at Eynesbury Golf Club, Victoria, Australia.

Commercial performance

Upon reaching its tenth week at the top of the Australian Singles Chart, "Dance Monkey" broke the record for the most weeks at number one on the chart by an Australian artist. In November 2019, during its sixteenth week at number one, it broke the record for the most weeks at number one in Australia's ARIA chart history (1983–present), previously held by

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

's "

Shape of You "Shape of You" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. It was released on 6 January 2017 as one of the double lead singles from his third studio album '' ÷'' (2017), along with "Castle on the Hill". The dancehall and R&B-infused ...

" (2017). "Dance Monkey" also holds the record for the longest time at number one across Australian singles charts, with 24 weeks (including 21 consecutive weeks from August to late December 2019). In the United Kingdom, "Dance Monkey" broke the record for the most weeks spent at the top of the

by a female artist when it remained at the top of the chart for an eleventh week. The previous record of ten weeks was held jointly by

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

's version of "

I Will Always Love You "I Will Always Love You" is a song written and originally recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. Written as a farewell to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, expressing Parton's decision to pursue a solo career, ...

" in 1992–1993 and "

Umbrella An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally used ...

" by

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...

and

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

in 2007. "Dance Monkey" was the sixth highest ranked global digital single of 2019 according to

IFPI The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 19 ...

, moving 11.4 million converted units. In November 2020, "Dance Monkey" was declared the most Shazamed song of all time with 36.6 million searches. In December 2020, Dance Monkey became the third most-streamed song on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

with over 2.5 billion streams, making Tones the first female artist to do so.

Live performances

Tones made her debut on US television on 18 November 2019 with a performance of the song on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It is the seventh incar ...

''. On 10 December 2019, Tones appeared as a guest performer again in the US on ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

''. The following week, "Dance Monkey" entered the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top ten for the first time at number nine, and later peaked at number four on the chart.

Accolades

At the

, Tones and I was nominated for eight awards, winning four. Tones won

ARIA Award for Best Female Artist The ARIA Music Award for Best Female Artist, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Recording Ind ...

and Breakthrough Artist while "Dance Monkey" won Best Pop Release and ''The Kids Are Coming'' EP won Best Independent Release. At the

, "Dance Monkey" was nominated for Song of the Year, Most Performed Australian Work of the Year and Most Performed Pop Work of the Year, winning Song of the Year. At the

, the song won Independent Song of the Year. In May 2020, "Dance Monkey" was announced as the Grand Prize winner of the 2019 International Songwriting Competition.

Personnel

Credits adapted from

. * Toni Watson – vocals, composer *

– mixing, production * Andrei Eremin – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Monthly charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links