“Drivers License”, the surprise hit single from Disney star Olivia Rodrigo, easily reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 this week, becoming only the 48th track in the history of the charts to debut first and one of only seven per rising artists to do so. At 17 years and 11 months, Rodrigo is also the youngest artist to reach the top of the charts since Billie Eilish, who won first place with “Bad Guy” in August 2019.
Taylor Swift’s co-signed track scored 76.1 million streams in the U.S. and sold 38,000 downloads in the week ending January 14 and won 8.1 million airplay audience impressions in the week ending January 17, according to MRC Data. The number of weekly streams is the highest of all time for the first single by a female artist properly promoted for radio, streaming services and other platforms, as well as the highest for any song since Cardi B. Garganta’s “WAP” feat. by Megan Thee.
The success of “Driver’s License” was not limited to the United States. The single also debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Global 200 and on the Billboard Global Excl. US graphics with 130 million streams and 49,000 downloads worldwide. It is only the third track to debut at the top of both charts since its release last September.