Released five years ago today, Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license” debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making the then 17-year-old the youngest artist in history to debut in the top spot, a record she holds to this day. To celebrate the fifth anniversary of this career milestone, the multi-Platinum, three-time Grammy Award-winning artist is releasing several special versions of “drivers license” via Geffen Records. David Byrne, the iconic musician, performer, writer and multidisciplinary artist whose creative ventures have captivated audiences since 1975 when he co-founded the renowned group Talking Heads, offers his interpretation of “drivers license” on a new version available at all DSPs beginning today alongside Rodrigo’s original version of the song. This marks the first in a series of covers tied to the fifth anniversary of ‘SOUR,’ Rodrigo’s debut album, which was released on May 21, 2021.
Pressed on translucent ruby vinyl, the seven-inch vinyl features Byrne’s version of “drivers license” on Side A while Side B captures one of the highlights from Rodrigo’s Governors Ball 2025 set, the moment Byrne joined her onstage for a performance of Talking Heads’ classic “burning down the house.” Since its release on January 8, 2021, “drivers license” has amassed over 4.7 billion combined global streams and has been certified 6x Platinum by the RIAA. The track spent its first eight weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, the longest running number one song by a solo artist at the time. Praised by The New York Times for the way it “successfully balances dark yet crisp melodrama with bold tunefulness,” “drivers license” ranks among the top 100 most-streamed songs of all time on Apple Music, among the top 10 most-streamed solo female songs in Spotify history and in the top 20 of Rolling Stone’s Best Female Songs of the Century. “drivers license” was the lead single from ‘SOUR,’ which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and was named the number one Album of 2021 by Rolling Stone. In 2022, Rodrigo took home Grammy awards in three of the seven categories she was nominated in: Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album for ‘SOUR’ and Best Pop Solo Performance for “drivers license.” ‘SOUR’ remains the first and only album in Spotify history to have four songs each surpass two billion streams. Her 2023 follow-up album ‘GUTS’ debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with the GUTS World Tour finding Rodrigo playing 100 sold-out headline shows in 64 cities across more than 21 countries.