Lorde Celebrates 'Royals' Music Video Reaching One Billion Views on YouTube

Lorde's music video for her debut single "Royals" has reached 1 billion views on YouTube, marking the New Zealand singer's first entry into the platform's Billion Views Club.

"Royals," the lead single from Lorde's 2013 debut studio album "Pure Heroine," spent nine weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. At the time, Lorde, then 16, became the youngest artist to top the chart since Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now" in 1987. The song received Grammy nominations for record of the year, song of the year, and best pop solo performance, winning the latter two.

Following the success of "Royals," "Pure Heroine" peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and produced three additional Hot 100 hits: "Team" (No. 6), "Tennis Court" (No. 71) and "Glory and Gore" (No. 68). Lorde has since released three more studio albums, all of which reached the top five on the Billboard 200, including her No. 1 sophomore album "Melodrama."

All four of Lorde's studio albums were released under a contract she signed with Universal Music Group at age 12. On Wednesday, March 18, Lorde announced that her contract with the label expired last year and that she is looking forward to a "clean slate."

"I feel a feeling of openness and possibility, and I'm inspired," Lorde said in a series of voice notes sent to fans. "It just feels exciting to have removed the container or something for a second."