Counting Crows’s “Mr. Jones” is now a member of Spotify’s Billions Club, marking their first song to do so. Released in 1993, “Mr. Jones” was Counting Crows’ first-ever single, and appeared on their debut album August And Everything After.
Lead singer Adam Duritz has said he named the song after his friend Marty Jones—specifically, one night where the duo watched Jones’ father, a longtime drummer for Chris Isaak, chat with three women after a bar show. “It just seemed like, you know, we couldn’t even manage to talk to girls … we were just thinking if we were rock stars, it’d be easier,” Duritz recalled. “I went home and wrote the song.”
Duritz collaborated with rhythm guitarist David Bryson and legendary producer T-Bone Burnett on the track, which became their breakout hit. Although it made the Billboard Radio Songs chart upon its debut, it didn’t break the Top 10 until five weeks later, ultimately peaking at No. 5. In 1994, it also won the group Best New Artist at the MTV Music Video Awards.
“Mr. Jones” premiered alongside a video directed by Charles Wittenmeir and filmed in New Amsterdam, New York. In 2009, Counting Crows shared a remastered version to their YouTube channel, which has now garnered over 350 million views. At the 1994 Billboard Music Video Awards, it won Best New Artist Clip of the Year in the Rock category, and received a nomination for Maximum Impact Clip of the Year.
Counting Crows released their most recent studio album, Butter Miracle, the Complete Sweets!, in May 2025. The record expanded on the four-tracker Butter Miracle, Suite One, which they shared back in 2021. Before that, their most recent album had been Somewhere Under Wonderland, released in 2014. Last last year, the group was the subject of a documentary: Music Box: Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately? The film is centered around Duritz and his struggles with recognition and mental health challenges as he wrote the album Recovering the Satellites.
