UDD’s Tadhana sets OPM record, surpasses 500 million streams

And so, what is such a huge honor has finally happened. Tadhana, the band Up Dharma Down’s nine-year-old recording, has now made history. The song has become the first Filipino recording ever to pass the half a million mark on the streaming platform, Spotify.

This is no hype. If you want to check on that, you can go to Spotify, type in the title Tadhana and the numbers will come out on the screen. 507,947,028 streams as of last week. That means that Tadhana has been listened to over half a million times during the nearly 4,000 days during which it has been available.

I think that even more remarkable is the fact that Tadhana accomplished this feat almost unobtrusively and devoid of fanfare. It was a nearly quiet ascent. Just think, while everybody was gushing about Cup of Joe’s Multo or welcoming new alt-pop act fitterkarma and its Pag-ibig ay Kanibalismo II, Up Dharma Down was moving quietly towards the big prize. And then it just happened. Over 500 million streams!

Tadhana is one of the tracks in the album titled “Capacities from 2.” It is a composition by the then members of Up Dharma Down. Namely, girl soloist and keyboard player Armi Millare, along with Carlos Tanada, Paul Yap and Leonardo Mayor. Armi has left the group and is now on her own. The others continue to perform and record as Up Dharma Down.

The song’s initial exposure was as the theme song for a GMA 7 drama anthology series on television hosted by actress Marian Rivera. It was also later used as the theme song of the rom-com movie titled “That Thing Called Tadhana,” which stars Angelica Panganiban and JM de Guzman.

Former UDD vocalist and keyboard player Armi Millare left the group in 2021 and is now on her own.

Tadhana was a slow burner. It made no significant dent in the hit charts when it came out. What happened was it slowly gained listeners in the ensuing years. More so after it was uploaded on the streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple, Deezer and others.

It also helped that aside from the original recording, other artists like KC Tandingan — check out her Wish Bus version — took to covering the song in their shows. There is also Regine Velasquez’s recorded version, which is quite popular and which gave Tadhana that middle-of-the-road spin.

So, why the slow climb during its early days? Maybe those streamers who relate to the message of the song also took a long time to accept the fact that the Tadhana, which is supposed to have a say in the lives of humankind, does affect the loves in their lives. It is fate as dictated by the heavens. You cannot really tell which one will stay or how the unexpected love turns out to be the real one.

Anyway, now that Tadhana has started its climb towards that staggering one billion streams, maybe we can take a look at the other tunes, which will most likely join the half-a-billionaire’s section soon.

First in the lineup is the lovely plea Isa Lang by Arthur Nery, which is almost there with a staggering 402,350,820 million streams, and after only two years of release.

Then, there are Ikaw Lang by Nobita with 382,036,712; Multo by Cup of Joe, with 360,500,000; Mahika by Adie and Janine Berdin, which has 358,511,500; Kathang Isip by Ben&Ben with 337,307,168; Tingin, also by Cup of Joe with Janine Tenoso, with 319,567,236; Pagsamo, again by Arthur Nery, 307,554,642; Sining by Dionela with Jay-R, 304,115,026; and Mundo by IV OF SPADES, 303,089,263.