Fil-Am star Olivia Rodrigo makes Billboard history, surpassing Mariah Carey, BTS

Olivia Rodrigo’s official debut single “Drivers License” has been dominating the charts of major streaming platforms. | Photo from Instagram/@olivia.rodrigo

FILIPINA American Disney star and singer Olivia Rodrigo has made Billboard history with her debut single “Drivers License.”

The song is now the longest-running number-one song on the Billboard Global 200, dominating the chart for seven consecutive weeks. It surpassed BTS’s “Dynamite” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” both of which racked up four frames atop the list.

“At present, it continues to succeed not only thanks to sustained sales and streaming activity, but also due to a lack of serious challengers,” according to a Forbes article published on February 21.

“Drivers License” collected 63.5 million streams, the week’s top streaming sum, as well as 20,000 sold worldwide in the tracking week of February 19 to 25.

Billboard on Tuesday, March 2, also announced that Rodrigo’s chart-topping hit became the seventh song in history to spend its first seven weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number one.

It joins “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men, “Candle in the Wind 1997”/”Something About the Way You Look Tonight” by Elton John, “God’s Plan” by Drake, “I’ll Be Missing You” by Puff Daddy & Faith Evans feat. 112, “Hello” by Adele, and “Fantasy” by Mariah Carey.

The 17-year-old star of “Bizaardvark” and “The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” was born to an American mother of Irish and German descent, and a Fil-Am father.

In an interview with the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), Rodrigo talked about the Fil-Am side of her family.

“My great-grandfather immigrated here from the Philippines when he was just a teenager.

He’s my grandma’s dad, and my grandpa is also Filipino as well,” she said.

“My dad grew up in a house where they were always making Filipino food, his grandpa always spoke Tagalog. All of those traditions have trickled down to our generation. Every Thanksgiving we have lumpia, and things like that,” she added.

Rodrigo also revealed that she wants to go to the Philippines one day.

“I have never been to the Philippines, but I really, really want to. We still have extended family there, but I’ve never met them. That’s on my bucket list, definitely,” she said.

Ritchel Mendiola

Ritchel Mendiola is a staff writer and reporter for the Asian Journal. You can reach her at [email protected].

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