Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album Sour is once again the number one album in the country for the fourth non-consecutive week, making it the first debut by a female artist to do so since 2009.
The previous holder of the record was Susan Boyle, whose debut I Dreamed A Dream topped the Billboard 200 for five non-consecutive weeks. Sour earned 83,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. and held the top spot for a second week after rocketing back to number 1 last week when it beat out both Doja Cat’s Planet Her, which maintained the second spot, and Tyler, the Creator’s Call Me If You Get Lost, which dropped to number 6.
The continued success of Rodrigo’s debut comes as plagiarism accusations swirl around the artist. Both Courtney Love and Elvis Costello pointed out stark similarities between their work and the 18-year-old’s, though the latter was much more forgiving. “This is fine by me, Billy,” Costello said as he responded to a Twitter user who noticed that Rodrigo’s track “Brutal” sounded a lot like Costello’s 1978 hit “Pump it Up.” “It’s how rock and roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy. That’s what I did.”
On a brighter note however, Rodrigo took a very publicized trip to the White House last week and collaborated with President Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci on a handful of public service announcements in support of vaccinations. The videos, which were shared on Instagram, seek to convince young adults to get vaccinated as the Delta Variant continues to spread throughout the United States.
