One benefit of somehow landing on the biggest song in the world is that you can suddenly quit your job as a digital sales rep.

“I quit about a month ago,” laughs Maroubra rapper Masked Wolf, real name Harry Michael, whose inescapable hit Astronaut in the Ocean is currently topping streaming charts worldwide.

“I liked my job and I loved my boss, but every morning when I got in that suit it was like, oh man. I felt like I was meant to be in hip-hop clothes. I’m supposed to be in that astronaut suit up in space, you know what I mean?”

After more than a decade of musical hustling, the 29-year-old’s struck gold with the track.

Astronaut in the Ocean, with Michael’s propulsive flow and a slinky beat by Melbourne producer Tyron Hapi that evokes Drake’s Nonstop, has captured the world’s attention, earning over 349 million streams and counting. It’s currently no.17 on the US’s Hot 100 Billboard chart, no.7 on the ARIA singles chart, and is the most Shazamed track in the world.

It’s also the number two song on Spotify globally, a no.1 Spotify hit in countries including Saudi Arabia, Israel, Hungary and Ukraine, and its video has clocked around 65 million views on YouTube. This week even Jennifer Lopez took to TikTok to post a clip of herself in a yellow bikini swivelling poolside to the song’s infectious groove.

“I never expected this to happen,” Michael says. “I went out and celebrated with my friends when we hit 10 million streams and I was completely happy with that, that was a massive achievement for me. What is happening to me now is a bit unbelievable.”

The song’s journey has been remarkable. Originally released in mid-2019 by Melbourne indie Teamwrk Records, it took off post-COVID when TikTokers picked it up to soundtrack everything from parkour tricks to shirtless shopping centre pranks (it’s currently featured in over 250,000 TikTok videos).