On this day in 2013 Lorde became the youngest solo artist to write and record a song to top the Billboard Hot 100 when her single "Royals" topped the chart.
The New Zealand-born singer/songwriter, whose paperwork says Ella Yelich-O'Connor, was just 16 when the sparse tune off The Love Club EP (and later Pure Heroine) became a sensation, staying on the chart for 44 weeks.
Before you say, wait a tick, didn't Little Stevie Wonder have a #1 at 13 years-old? What kind of Rock Math is this?
True, "Fingerprints Pt. 2" did top the charts in 1963, and even though it sounds like Stevie is just jamming on his tiny harmonica, the instrumental was actually written by Henry Cosby and Clarence Paul.
Lorde and her producer Joel Little share the songwriting credits for "Royals," a song she says was inspired by a photo of Kansas City Royals hall of fame third baseman George Brett being surrounded by baseballs being held hoping to be autographed.
The singer told VH-1 she saw “this image from the National Geographic of this dude just signing baseballs. He was a baseball player and his shirt said, ‘Royals’“ and she thought the word was "really cool."
In 2014 Lorde met Brett in Las Vegas before her show at the Hard Rock.
Since she released it, the tune that was named Song of the Year at the Grammys has been covered hundreds of times.
Selena Gomez has covered it 27 times.
In 2015 she sang the song with Miss Taylor Swift.
But the person who has covered it the most is Jason Derulo at 38 times.
Lorde is currently not on tour at this time, but strangely enough, Derulo is.
In fact the third stop on his winter tour is in New Zealand. Wouldn't it be nice if the singers did a royally sweet duet? Tickets available on his website.
