Olivia Rodrigo Shows the Full Album isn’t Dead

By: Luke Roy

Five months ago, Olivia Rodrigo released her highly anticipated third album, “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love.”

Rodrigo was 17 when her debut single, “Drivers License,” entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 1, where it stayed for eight weeks. Her first album, “Sour,” is among the most successful albums of the decade. Seven of its 11 tracks have surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify, and no song on the album has fewer than 400 million. 

Her second album, “Guts,” was another major success, debuting with 302,000 units and featuring the hit single “Vampire.”

By comparison, some see her latest era as an underperformance. None of the new album’s songs have surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify. The lead single, “Drop Dead,” spent only its debut week at No. 1, significantly less time than the lead singles from her previous albums.

The success of the album as a whole tells a different story. Last week, it spent its fourth week atop the Billboard 200, which ranks full albums, nearly matching the five weeks “Sour” spent at No. 1. 

Much of this success stems from the album’s cohesion. Many describe it as a concept album, one that tells a story from start to finish. Concept albums are uncommon in pop music, especially since short-form video became a major tool for promoting songs. Many in the industry believed modern audiences could no longer connect with full albums the way they once did.

Rodrigo has shown the opposite can be true when the album is strong. Among the album’s non-singles, the most-streamed song has nearly 300 million streams with the least-streamed song coming in at just under 150 million. 

On “Sour,” the gap between the most and least-streamed non-singles is 1.3 billion. This suggests that people are spending more time listening to the album as a whole, than only streaming the lead singles. 

Those gaps could widen over time. But on TikTok and other social media platforms, different songs have gained attention at different points. Following her recent concert performances, the closing track, “Cigarette Smoke,” has drawn growing attention.

Rodrigo has shown significant artistic growth throughout her young career, and “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love” marks another leap. As one of the most influential artists in pop, she may push other artists back toward the full-album format.