Some of the biggest artists of the 21st century weren’t yet born when the century began.
Billie Eilish — Billboard’s top artist of the first quarter of the century who was born in the first quarter of the century — made her (non-chart) debut on Dec. 18, 2001. Runner-up Olivia Rodrigo was born Feb. 20, 2003. Third-ranked The Kid LAROI arrived six months later.
What was life like in those ancient times? In the Billboard print issue the week that Rodrigo was born, such news included, “MTV is promoting music from developing artists via a new series on-air and through its Web site”; The Bourne Identity debuted at No. 1 on the Top DVD Sales, Top DVD Rentals and Top VHS Rentals charts; and (more presciently) the following exchange wrapped an interview with Daryl Hall and John Oates:
Billboard: So what’s up for the next and possibly final 30 years?
Despite having a relatively limited time to make their mark, several acts born in the 2000s shine with impressive histories on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100.
As Billboard celebrates the top-performing artists, albums and songs of the first 25 years of the century since 2000, browse below, the top artists of the 21st century … born in the 21st century.
Billboard’s Top Artists, Top Billboard 200 Albums and Top Hot 100 Songs of the 21st Century recaps reflect performance on weekly charts dated Jan. 1, 2000, through Dec. 28, 2024. The Top Artists category, including the Top Artists of the 21st Century … Born in the 21st Century recap, ranks the best-performing acts in that span based on activity on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100. (Titles released prior to mid-1999 [not an issue for this feature …] are excluded, although such entries that appeared on the Billboard 200 or Hot 100 in that span contribute to the calculation of the Top Artists chart.)
Bailey Zimmerman
Image Credit: Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images
Born: Jan. 27, 2000 Billboard chart debut: Feb. 26, 2022
Chart highlights: Zimmerman notched two Billboard 200 top 10s in 2022-23: Leave the Light On and Religiously. The Album. On the Hot 100, he reached the top 10 with “Rock and a Hard Place” in April 2023. The Louisville, Ill., native, who gained early traction on TikTok, also crowned the Country Airplay chart with his first four entries: “Fall in Love” (one week, December 2022); “Rock and a Hard Place” (six weeks, beginning April 2023); “Religiously” (one, September 2023); and “Where It Ends” (two, June 2024).
Benson Boone
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores
Born: June 25, 2002 Billboard chart debut: Oct. 30, 2021
Chart highlights: Boone made inroads on the Hot 100 with “Ghost Town” and “In the Stars,” which dented the chart with respective Nos. 100 and 82 peaks in 2021-22. In February 2024, “Beautiful Things” blasted in at No. 15. It reached No. 2 the next month and, except for one week over the holidays, has yet to leave the top 40. Follow-up “Slow It Down” hit No. 32, while parent album for all four songs — Fireworks & Rollerblades — skated to a No. 6 high on the Billboard 200.
Early last year, Boone reflected on the musical origin of “Beautiful Things,” with its unconventional build from waltzy intro to full-blast crunch. “The structure of the song did take a long time to figure out because we didn’t know if we should do it all slow, and then do one chorus at the end, or if we should do three choruses,” he said. “It took us two weeks — after we had already built out production — to redo everything, and that’s where we finally cracked the code. I’m very happy with the way it turned out.”
The Kid LAROI
Image Credit: Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images
Born: Aug. 17, 2003 Billboard chart debut: June 27, 2020
Chart highlights: Just over a month after first appearing on Billboard’s charts, The Kid LAROI was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with F*ck Love. In 2021, the Australian posted his first two top 10s on the Hot 100: “Without You” (No. 8), boosted by a remix adding Miley Cyrus, and “Stay,” with Justin Bieber. The latter spent 34 weeks in the top five, the third-longest such run in the chart’s history. Its 44-week stay in the top 10 is also third-best all-time.
Olivia Rodrigo
Image Credit: Christopher Polk
Born: Feb. 20, 2003 Billboard chart debut: Nov. 30, 2019
Chart highlights: Two albums into her career, Rodrigo has made chart history. Notably, all the tracks from 2021’s Sour and 2023’s Guts hit the Hot 100’s top 40, make her the first artist to chart every song from two career-opening collections in the region. Both sets ruled the Billboard 200, while the former spun off the Hot 100 No. 1s “Drivers License” — which zoomed from 0 to 60 upon its release — and “Good 4 U” and the latter yielded the leader “Vampire.”
For a May 2021 cover story, the actress-singer told Billboard, “I have like a month left of senior year, and I’ve sort of been neglecting that. Because I’ve been off making my album, I sort of forgot I was a high school student.”
Billie Eilish
Image Credit: John Shearer/Getty Images
Born: Dec. 18, 2001 Billboard chart debut: Oct. 14, 2017
Chart highlights: Eilish dominated the Billboard 200 for three weeks in 2019 with When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Follow-up LP Happier Than Ever likewise reigned for three weeks in 2021. In 2024, Hit Me Hard and Soft reached No. 2. Among her seven Hot 100 top 10s, “Bad Guy” ruled for a week in 2019, while “Birds of a Feather” has flown to No. 2 and ranked in the chart’s top 40 each week since its debut last June. Among other chart feats, her four No. 1s on Alternative Airplay mark the most among all soloists since the survey began in 1988.
Eilish has also already won nine Grammy Awards. In 2020, she became the first act since Christopher Cross in 1981 to sweep album, record and song of the year and best new artist honors in a single ceremony.
Even more admirably, and reflecting Gen Z activism, Eilish has pushed sustainability from the time she was first taking label meetings. “I think that the artist’s role is to champion [something] and say that’s what they want, what they believe in and [what they] want to make it happen,” Eilish’s mother, Maggie Baird, told Billboard in 2024. “It’s the power that they have to say, ‘This is important to me, and it has to be a priority.’ ”
Said Eilish, who has helped foster initiatives promoting the use of recycled materials, “What’s more important: things being original or our kids being able to live on the planet and them having kids?”
