Vanessa Carlton’s 2001 hit “A Thousand Miles” has officially joined Spotify’s Billions Club—her first song to achieve the feat.
Carlton’s debut single and her most enduring hit, “A Thousand Miles” began as a piano riff Carlton penned in 1998 and titled “Interlude.” A demo tape of the full song eventually reached record executive Ron Fair at A&M; he gave it its title and, on the recommendation of Jimmy Iovine, got Carlton to make the track’s now-infamous video. Directed by Mark Klasfeld, it follows her playing the piano in the back of a car driving through California.
“A Thousand Miles” eventually appeared on Carlton’s debut album, Be Not Nobody, which also featured hits like “Ordinary Day” and “Pretty Baby.” It’s also featured in two films from the early 2000s: 2001’s Legally Blonde and 2004’s White Chicks.
To this day, “A Thousand Miles” remains Carlton’s highest-charting song—it debuted at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its release. It received critical acclaim and received three nomations at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards, for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s).
Carlton has kept busy since releasing “A Thousand Miles.” She’s shared five more albums—most recently, 2020’s Love Is An Art—and, in October, she announced that her next album, Veils, will be released in 2026 while she was opening for Stevie Nicks. The lead single from that record, “Animal,” arrived on November 11th. In 2024, Carlton and her husband, Deer Tick’s John McCauley, also co-wrote the score for Julia Stiles’ directorial debut, Wish You Were Here.
