Billie Eilish has been announced as the latest artist to receive a BRIT Billion Award by the BPI, the representative voice for the UK’s world leading record labels and music companies.
The BRIT Billion award celebrates Billie’s achievement in surpassing the landmark of one billion career UK streams - as calculated by the Official Charts Company. Bad Guy alone has over 300m streams, with six other tracks crossing the 100m mark
At just 17, Billie became the youngest female artist in UK chart history to score a Number 1 album with her debut When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?. Four years later, Billie continues to lead the UK charts having reached the top spot yet again in the Official Singles chart with What Was I Made For – her ninth UK Top 10 single. Taking home three BRIT Awards in three consecutive years for ‘International Female Solo Artist’ (2020, 2021) and ‘International Artist of the Year' (2022), Billie’s UK fanbase continues to grow as she became the youngest artist to top the bills at Reading and Leeds festival just last week.
Officially launched on 4th May 2023, the first wave of 13 artists to receive the BRIT Billion award included global icons ABBA, Coldplay, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, pioneering rap and hip-hop artists AJ Tracey and Headie One, and chart-dominating pop artists and singer-songwriters Anne-Marie, Ellie Goulding, George Ezra, Lewis Capaldi, RAYE, Rita Ora and Sam Smith. Recent recipients include Lana Del Rey, who was presented with the award backstage at her BST Hyde Park headline show, Olivia Rodrigo, Queen, Wizkid, Becky Hill, and James Arthur, who was presented with his award live on BBC’s The One Show from presenters Alex Scott and Roman Kemp.
The BRIT Billion award reflects the extent to which streaming has transformed the music landscape for artists and fans alike over the past decade – more than 85% of the UK’s recorded music consumption now takes place through streaming, and in 2022 there were a record 160 billion audio streams in the UK in total.
