Olivia Rodrigo’s Song “Drivers License” Becomes a Huge Success

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Olivia Rodrigo poses under a string of letters that read “I got my Drivers License.” (Rodrigo’s Instagram page)

Emilyanne Richart, Reporter

Olivia Rodrigo’s song, “Drivers License,” continues to be a success weeks after its release date of January 8th. On January 19th, the song debuted as No. 1 in the world on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Billboard Global 200 chart.

The song was an immediate hit, it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and amidst its first week of release it was streamed 76.1 million times in the U.S., according to Billboard. The song continued to be a success even afterwards, where on January 11th it had over 15.17 million streams globally, thereby setting Spotify’s record for the most streams in a day for a non-holiday song. The next day, Rodrigo beat that record with 17.01 million streams. Rodrigo also broke the record for the most requested song in one day on Alexa globally on Amazon Music.

Among the numerous charts Rodrigo is dominating with “Drivers License,” she is also at No. 1 on the Rolling Stone songs chart. She is currently surpassing Ariana Grande’s hit song, “34+35,” with the trio version featuring Megan Thee Stallion and Doja Cat. Rodrigo’s widespread success is a big deal, as she is only 17-years-old and this is the first song she has ever released.

Rodrigo has gained many personal successes due to the song. Her idol, Taylor Swift, complemented “Drivers License” on one of Rodrigo’s Instagram posts. In the comment, Swift said “I say that’s my baby and I’m really proud,” directed at Rodrigo and her success.

In her song, Rodrigo conveys her feelings about a heartbreak, which fans assume was written about Joshua Basset, her co-star in the Disney show “High School Musical: the Musical: the Series.” A popular theory among fans is that Rodrigo and Basset were together, or at least flirtatious, before Joshua was speculated to have moved onto Sabrina Carpenter. Carpenter,22, is also a Disney star, she has had lead roles in numerous Disney movies and the TV show “Girl Meets World.” The show Carpenter starred in had a similar love triangle, which fans think is ironic. The drama that came from this love triangle is what seemed to have sparked fan’s initial interest in the song.

“It’s the long-speculated relationship drama between Rodrigo and [her] co-star Joshua Bassett that the song appears to confirm that spread like wildfire across the TikTok community,” said William Gruger, TikTok’s U.S editorial lead for music. The song has inspired a trend on TikTok and multiple videos can be found that detail fan’s speculation on their relationship drama.

Multiple hints were scattered throughout the song engaging fans in an Easter egg hunt. An example of this are the lyrics “you’re probably with that blonde girl” and “she’s so much older than me” which fans say is directed at Sabrina Carpenter. Soon after “Drivers License” initial release date, Joshua Basset released a song called “Lie Lie Lie,” which didn’t get nearly as much success as “Drivers License” did. Soon after that, Sabrina Carpenter released a song called “Skins” which left fans of Rodrigo upset. Multiple fans on TikTok expressed their anger through short videos, where they called out Carpenter for coming after Rodrigo. Fans believe that the song is a diss track against Rodrigo’s song, yet Carpenter has denied this theory. Fans believe this because of the line “maybe blonde was the only rhyme,” in Carpenter’s song, which they believe is a diss to the blonde reference in Rodrigo’s song.