Disney Channel star Olivia Rodrigo broke records on the UK charts and Spotify’s global streaming records with her debut single. The driver’s license is the UK’s number one official, breaking the Official Charts Company’s record for the highest number of transmissions in one day for a song other than Christmas.
On January 12, Rodrigo’s heartbreaking 17-year-old epic was broadcast 2,407m times in 24 hours, breaking Ed Sheeran’s record for Shape of You, which received 2,274m streams in 24 hours in January 2017.
Rodrigo also repeatedly broke Spotify’s one-day global streaming records for non-holiday music. On January 11, the driver’s license was transmitted 15.17 million times. A day later, he broke that record with 17.01m of streams. Mariah Carey’s classic All I Want for Christmas Is You currently holds Spotify’s one-day streaming record, with over 17.2 million plays.
Hailed by Rolling Stone as one of the first “songs of the year”, the driver’s license is the biggest debut on the UK charts in the first week since former One Direction band member Zayn Malik released his debut single, Pillowtalk, in 2016.
Like Malik, Rodrigo’s success did not come out of the blue. She has been a reference on Disney Channel programming since 2016, and has led the cast of the mockumentary High School Musical: The Musical: The Series for two years and writing songs for her soundtrack.
Co-written by Rodrigo and producer Dan Nigro, it is rumored that the driver’s license refers to the program’s backstage activity. The song documents Rodrigo getting his driver’s license, a moment she intended to celebrate with a boyfriend who has now moved on to another girl.
Fans have assumed that he is addressing Rodrigo’s co-star and alleged ex-boyfriend, Joshua Bassett, interpreting lyrics about a “blonde girl” who is “everything that makes me insecure” as a reference to another cast member. Rodrigo told Zane Lowe of Apple Music that she wrote the song “literally crying in my room”. On Thursday, Bassett released a single, Lie, Lie, Lie, which was interpreted as a replica.
Signed with Interscope and Geffen Records, Rodrigo was born in Temecula, California and has singled out Taylor Swift and Lorde as his greatest inspirations. She is the latest pop star to leave Disney’s stable, following names like Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus. It is also massive on the TikTok platform, with 3.5 million followers.
In an interview with Billboard, Becky Bass of Spotify, leader of his playlist of global hits, described Rodrigo’s conditions of success as a perfect storm. “You have fans listening to Lorde in it, you have fans listening to Taylor [Swift] in it, you have fans listening to Kesha in it. Most of the world can relate to a breakup – so it’s a relatable song too. But you layer the drama, you create a really active fan layer and you get that snowball effect. “