She may not be a royal, but her breakthrough music video has been crowned as part of YouTube’s Billion Views Club.
The music video for Lorde‘s debut single “Royals” has officially racked up 1 billion views on YouTube — the New Zealand singer’s first song to achieve this feat.
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“Royals” is the lead single from Lorde’s 2013 debut studio album Pure Heroine. The track topped the Billboard Hot 100 for nine weeks, making a then-16-year-old Lorde the youngest chart-topper since 1987, when “I Think We’re Alone Now” by Tiffany hit No. 1. The song would go on to receive Grammy nominations for record of the year, song of the year and best pop solo performance, with wins for the latter two. After “Royals,” Pure Heroine — which hit No. 3 on the Billboard 200 — spawned three more Hot 100 hits with “Team” (No. 6), “Tennis Court” (No. 71) and “Glory and Gore” (No. 68). In the years since she debuted, Lorde has released three more Billboard 200 top five studio albums, including her chart-topping sophomore album Melodrama.
Lorde’s four studio albums have all been released under a contract she signed with Universal Music Group when she was 12 years old. Also on Wednesday (March 18), the “Supercut” singer announced that her label contract expired last year and that she’s looking forward to starting over with a “clean slate.”
“I feel a feeling of openness and possibility, and I’m inspired,” she said in a series of voice notes sent to fans. “It just feels exciting to have removed the container or something for a second.”
As we look forward to what the future holds for Lorde, we can all join the ranks and watch the “Royals” video below.
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