Tano’s Growth From Sando to Billboard
Michael ‘Tano’ Montano is a son of the soil, rooted in Trinidad & Tobago, enamored with San Fernando, passionate about Mona’s roti, and attuned to the poetry of sunrises and sunsets. His identity is unmistakably Caribbean, yet he intends to spread his influence far beyond the islands.
Eight years after his first track surfaced on Spotify, Tano has now amassed over 125 million Spotify streams. From zero to 125 million—quick, real quick.
Tano’s first streaming milestone came in 2017 with “No One,” a collaboration with Kalpee. As noted, “…the track blends island beats—mainly dancehall and soca—with infectious, repetitive hooks and house/EDM textures.” Now at 4 million Spotify streams, it also topped Trinidad & Tobago’s iTunes chart and crossed the Caribbean, reaching #46 on Switzerland’s Spotify Viral Songs chart.
Two years later, he co-produced Close to Me with Brooklyn Decent, featuring Kes and Jamaican dancehall artist Shenseea. The track has since garnered 4.7 million Spotify streams and charted on Apple Music and iTunes in multiple countries, including the Netherlands, Mozambique, and Trinidad & Tobago.
In a 2019 interview with TT Newsday, Tano outlined his ambitions: “I think that the benchmark for me is always moving, so there was a point where I wanted to work with the biggest artists, locally – and now, it’s trying to find a way to transcend and do that, and just become a Billboard producer, or how do we get to the next level of working with the Biebers and the Rihannas and the Drakes, like how do you get to that level? That, for me, is obviously the final goal.”
In 2020, a major turning point came. In that year, Tano contributed to the production of Beamer (Bad Boys), an Afropop track by Nigerian artist Rema, powered by Jamaican mega producer Tarik ‘Rvssian’ Johnston, known for his genre-defying approach. Featured on the FIFA 21 soundtrack, the song has since accumulated over 31 million streams, representing 25% of Tano’s total Spotify streams.
The following year, Tano expanded his production credits, working with Machel Montano, the King of Soca, and Hey Choppi on Gud Gud. The track added another 1.4 million Spotify streams to his name and topped iTunes reggae charts in Barbados, Luxembourg, and Colombia. That same year, Tano co-produced Be Good with M.R.I. and Rvssian, marking his second collaboration with Shenseea and his continued work with Rvssian. The track reached #4 on Apple Music’s Reggae Chart in the U.S. and has since amassed 4.5 million Spotify streams.
In 2022, he continued delivering hits with Dingolay, a duet with Nailah Blackman and Mical Teja, who co-produced the track alongside Tano. The song has garnered 1.1 million Spotify streams and broke into Spotify’s Local Pulse Toronto chart at #49.
Next came Bottega, a collaboration with breakthrough Colombian performer Blessd, marking Tano’s third production with Rvssian. The track is currently approaching 3 million Spotify streams. A month later, in December 2022, came another milestone with the High Street Riddim, Tano’s debut riddim release powered by Ineffable Records. Kes’ Jub Jub, the standout track, has since surpassed 5 million streams—an outlier in soca’s digital landscape. Just 60 days after its release, the project had already amassed impressive numbers. At the time, it was trending at 5,700 Spotify streams per day; today, that figure has since climbed to 5,900.
By 2023, Tano’s catalog was streaming at an accelerated rate. In March, his global reach expanded further as he reunited with Rvssian for the fourth time—with VooDoo, described by Billboard as “a sultry Afrobeats jam” by Myke Towers. It became Tano’s biggest single to date, surpassing 40 million Spotify streams. Remarkably, nearly 80 million of his total Spotify streams—60%—come from just a handful of collaborations with Rvssian. Talk about efficiency—four songs, +80 million Spotify streams, and access to a wider market. That’s the power of strategic collaborations.
He did not stop there. In September 2023, Banga with Kes was released, earning 2.7 million Spotify streams, landing at #907 on Spotify’s New Music Friday Global chart, and receiving major U.S. radio play. In November 2023, Tano released Tack Back, another standout collaboration with Kes. Now nearing 4 million streams, it became one of the biggest Soca songs of 2024.
In October 2023, he co-produced DNA with Mical Teja—the song that would go on to win Trinidad & Tobago’s 2024 Road March title. The track spent nearly two weeks at #1 on Trinidad & Tobago’s Apple Music Top 100 and entered Spotify’s Local Pulse NYC at #97. DNA has since reached nearly 3 million Spotify streams—a remarkable leap from their first collaboration in 2021, Flava, which accumulated just 38,000 Spotify streams. To date, Tano & Teja’s collaborations have garnered over 6 million Spotify streams.
Tano has resisted falling into the cyclical rhythm of Trinidad Carnival production, with Road March as his primary goal. However, reflecting on his DNA victory—shared with longtime collaborator Mical Teja—he noted in a recent interview that it was less about competition and more about connection, a reminder that a song’s true power lies in its ability to embed itself in the collective experience. Road March, then, was not the goal—but it was proof of something undeniable: his music continues to ‘make people feel a way.’
His momentum heading into 2024—already surpassing 100 million Spotify streams—remained relentless.”
In May 2024, Out of This World, an uplifting collaboration featuring Kes and Jamaican music icon Sean Paul, produced by Tano, was named the official anthem for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. Designed to inspire cricket fans worldwide, the track has already garnered nearly 3.5 million Spotify streams, with the remix pushing the total to 4 million.
To close out last year, he released Cocoa Tea with Kes in November—amassing 3.2 million Spotify streams in just over four months. The song is trending three to four times faster than their previous releases, already surpassing Banga and closing in on Out of This World. While not yet their highest-streaming song, its rapid growth suggests it could reach that milestone soon, joining a very short list of soca songs that have generated over 3 million Spotify streams in under a year. With Kes’ goal of pushing boundaries within Soca music, Tano has proven to be a fitting collaborator. Together, they have already generated nearly 20 million Spotify streams in short order
To kick off 2025, he teamed up with Machel Montano, Nigerian music star Davido, and the dynamic production duo Full Blown to release Fling It Up on January 1. The track debuted at #44 on the Billboard Afrobeats Chart—a long-envisioned milestone realized just six years after he first voiced the goal. The track quickly added another 600,000 Spotify streams to his growing total. Days later, he released his second riddim—Heroes Riddim, featuring Kes, Coutain, and GBM Nutron. The riddim has already generated more than 500,000 Spotify streams in just a few months.
Today, post-Carnival Trinidad, his production work behind JamTown by Coutain (off the Heroes Riddim) continues to resonate, with the song remaining as the top Soca song on Trinidad & Tobago’s Apple Music Top 100 Chart at #12. Other Tano-produced songs—Cocoa Tea (#20), Medicine (#55), One Piece (#67), Fling It Up (#92), and JamTown—account for five of the remaining 15 Soca songs on the Apple Music Top 100. Long after Carnival has ended, nearly 40% of the enduring Soca songs on the charts carry his production—a testament to Tano’s ability to extend the longevity of Soca tracks on the Trinidad charts beyond Carnival Tuesday.
With over 50 songs in his discography and more than 125 million Spotify streams climbing daily, Tano’s résumé speaks for itself. His collaborations span the diaspora, including two global hits with Rvssian, a Road March-winning anthem with Mical Teja, and a Billboard-charting Afrobeats single with Machel Montano, Davido, and Full Blown—all within a decade.
What’s next? If his 2019 vision holds, a collaboration with Drake, Rihanna, or Bieber—or the next generation’s equivalent—is only a matter of time.
Check out Tano’s catalogue here:
