Multo before the world

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

It has now become such a treat. I mean, checking out the hit charts and knowing that dreams do come true. I mean, for real. Here is something that I dreamed of ever since I laid hands on a copy of Billboard Magazine and found the Hot 100 and other charts.

It has finally happened. There is a Filipino recording, a Filipino song in Tagalog in the list. Multo by Cup of Joe is at No. 100 in the Billboard Global 200. It is in between Numb by Linkin Park and Counting Stars by OneRepublic. Over at Spotify Global, Multo is at No. 56, in between Gata Only by Floyy Menor and Loco by Neton Vega. And it feels really grand.

Because I work in the music industry, finding out what music sells is something that I have been doing regularly for many years. At first, it was just Billboard and then the Rolling Stone and occasionally Cashbox. Okay, let us see what tunes are selling this week. While reading those it became my dream to see a Filipino song in the charts.

The hit lists were predominantly made up of American, British, Canadian and Australian releases and once in a while a Spanish song from Spain or Latin America, or a French or Italian hit. Asians only made the grade in one instance. The Japanese Sukiyaki, a song by Kyu Sakamoto, made No. 1 in 1963. So I thought, maybe it can also happen to a Filipino artist.

Back then, it looked like Japan with its huge music market and with the resources to develop talents for world consumption, would be the first Asian country to be regularly in the Billboard charts.

And it did come close again with the duo named Pink Lady whose song Kiss in the Dark reached No. 37 in 1980. So I continued to dream.

And then, K-pop was suddenly there. The Wonder Girls with Nobody and then PSY with Gangnam Style, CL with Lifted, as well as Pinkfong with Baby Shark, PPAP by Pikotaro, and many more until there was BTS and Butter on Top.

K-pop started exerting dominance in the world’s pop music market. It left all other Asian aspirants by the wayside. And my dream of a Filipino song in the Hot 100 was moving further and further away.

Why think that? Because everybody was jumping on the K-pop bandwagon and throwing originality to the winds. And how can anybody compare with the South Koreans these days. They seem to have discovered the secret to being on top.

Thank heavens, there came Cup of Joe and their song Multo. The boys from Baguio were just kids who got together to create music and they did it very well. They have now become the first Filipino act to enter the global charts. Multo made my dream come true and it feels like heaven knowing it happened without Cup of Joe becoming a K-pop wannabe.

So what comes next? Well, I hope Multo stays in those charts for a really long time. But at the back of my mind is the thought, maybe it is okay to wish for Multo to make No. 1.

Hopefully, more Filipino songs make it to the global charts. Dreams do come true.

And now presenting Multo and the other contenders for the global charts in the latest Spotify Philippines hit list.

Multo by Cup of Joe; Tibok by Earl Agustin; You’ll Be in my Heart by NIKI; My Day by HELLMERRY; Marilag by Dionela; Sa Bawa’t Sandali by Amiel Sol; Tingin by Cup of Joe and Janine Tenoso; Before I Let You Go by Ryouji with CK YG; sining by Dionela and Jay R; Dalangin by Earl Agustin; Misteryoso by Cup of Joe; luther by Kendrick Lamar; Isa Lang by Arthur Nery.

Kalimutan Ka by Skusta Clee; Like JENNIE by JENNIE; Oksihina by Dionela; The Man Who Can’t be Moved by The Script; Bulong by December Avenue; blue by ying kai; Tadhana by Up Dharma Down; Dito Sa ‘Kin by Earl Agustin; Estranghero by Cup of Joe; Gusto Ko Sakin Ka Na Lang by Robledo Timido; BIRDS OF A FEATHER by Billie Eilish; and Kung Wala Ka by Hale.