Olivia Rodrigo earns longest-running debut album this century

Sour smashes long-standing Billboard 200 chart record

Olivia Rodrigo achieves yet another prestigious honor with her 3x Platinum debut album, Sour. The record-breaking release has become the longest-running debut album in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart this century — the first to spend an entire year in that chart’s upper echelon. The continued excitement around Sour, which has sold more than 12.3 million equivalent album units globally, also extends to Olivia Rodrigo: Driving Home 2 U (A Sour Film). The film, now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, documents the highly lauded Grammy award-winning breakthrough album.

The critically acclaimed film — which took home Best Music Documentary at the MTV Movie and TV Awards — is full of behind-the-scenes footage as Rodrigo takes a road trip from Salt Lake City, where she began penning the album’s songs, to LA. Directed by Stacey Lee, Driving Home 2 U gives fans unprecedented access to the 19-year-old as she performs new live arrangements and shares exclusive footage from the making of Sour, including studio sessions with producer Dan Nigro.

This weekend, Rodrigo used her massive platform to share her outrage and stand up for women. At the 2022 Glastonbury Festival, Rodrigo condemned the US Supreme Court for overturning the landmark court case of Roe v. Wade, which made reproductive rights a constitutional right. “I’m devastated,” she told the audience. “I’m terrified and so many women and so many girls are going to die because of this.” She then brought out UK pop disrupter Lily Allen for a blistering rendition of Allen’s “Fuck You,” which Rodrigo dedicated to the five Supreme Court judges who she says, “truly don’t give a shit about freedom.”

The second youngest artist in GRAMMY history to score nods in each of the Big Four categories in the same year, Rodrigo won three awards out of seven nominations for Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Pop Solo Performance. She was named New Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards and Songwriter of the Year at both the ASCAP Pop Music Awards and Variety Hitmakers. Rodrigo also took home seven Billboard Awards including Top New Artist, Top Female Artist, Top Hot 100 Artist, Top Streaming Songs Artist, Top Radio Songs Artist, Top Billboard Global 200 Artist, and Top Billboard 200 Album, the most awards for an artist this year. Rodrigo was also named Woman of the Year at Billboard’s 2022 Women in Music Awards. Her international accolades include a Brit Award for Best International Song (“Good 4 U”), a Juno Award for Best International Album, and an NME Award for Best New Act.

Rodrigo recently kicked off the EU/UK leg of the sold out run of her Sour Tour on June 11th in Hamburg, Germany.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com