Young’uns Topped Music Charts in 2021 – Here Are Their Inspiring Stories

How these young artists wriggled their way into your ears.

The year-end music lists are out and there’s a lot of young artists taking out the top spots.

Whether you’re an aspiring musician yourself or are purely curious, you may be wondering how they got their huge careers started.

Here are the young artists that made the biggest airwaves in 2021, according to Spotify.

Olivia Rodrigo, born 2003.

Her break-out hit “drivers license” was met with astronomic success when it dropped on January 8 2021.

Olivia Rodrigo went from fairly obscure stardom to breaking the Spotify record for the first song in history to hit 80 million streams in 7 days.

Rodrigo always had a passion for music, taking vocal, piano and acting lessons throughout primary school. She was playing guitar by age 12 and listening to her parent’s music, including No Doubt, Pearl Jam, the White Stripes and Green Day.

Soon after being cast in the starring role of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, she signed with Interscope Records and Geffen Records in 2020. The rest is history.

The Kid LAROI, born 2003.

Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard was born in New South Wales. His maternal great-great grandfather was a part of the Stolen Generation.

Despite his parents having strong connections in the music industry, his upbringing was not all smooth sailing.

His uncle, more of a father figure to Charleton, was murdered in 2015. His mother sometimes had to sell drugs to get by.

While coping with all this, Laroi nurtured his passion for hip-hop. He recorded verses on his mum’s phone, upgraded to a studio and posted his music on Soundcloud.

After growing a following in Sydney, he went international after he signed a deal with Columbia Records.

Laroi now has more monthly listeners on Spotify than the Rolling Stones, Nirvana, BTS or Kendrick Lamar.

Billie Eilish, born 2001.

This is a name that needs no introduction.

Vanity Fair has tracked Billie’s own reaction to her huge success year after year.

But if you need a refresher, Billie was born in Los Angeles and was homeschooled with her brother Finneas. This allowed her time and freedom to pursue her own interests.

In 2015, Billie released the song “Ocean Eyes”. It was produced by Finneas, and after uploading it to SoundCloud and receiving several hundred thousand listens in two weeks, his own band manager reached out.

Flash forward to 2021, and “Happier Than Ever” has cult-like status. It seems that Billie is only just getting started in a long and successful career.

There’s no better time to be a young person in music, with some stellar peers paving the way in the industry this year. No doubt 2022 will be just as youth-driven.