Only 5 Teenage Albums hit 20M Units — Billie Just Joined the Club

It doesn’t happen often. A debut album that feels like it changes the air in the room, that marks its generation, and that still sells like a greatest hits years later. Billie Eilish‘s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? has just surpassed 20 million equivalent album sales, a landmark achieved by a very select group of albums.

For context, Billie was only 17 when she and Finneas pieced the album together primarily at home. Released in March 2019, it became the unlikely centerpiece of global pop for a new generation. Six years later, it continues to pull in millions of daily streams.

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20 Million CSPC: A Milestone Only Few Teenage Albums Reach

The CSPC (Commensurate Sales to Popularity Concept) method translates every form of music consumption into a single numerical value. For WWAFAWDWG, that number now sits at 20,004,000 units, effectively crossing the symbolic 20 million line.

To appreciate the significance of this, it is necessary to examine history. Teenage albums that sold at this scale are exceedingly rare. Britney Spears’ …Baby One More Time is still the benchmark with 33.7M units. While Billie‘s blockbuster still has plenty of momentum, Britney‘s classic feels impossible to challenge in the near future.

The runner-up on this particular ranking is no other than Avril Lavigne‘s Let Go. With 22.4M sales, the 2002 album was immensely successful. Over 20 million copies, we also find Olivia Rodrigo‘s Sour at 21.6 million, and Destiny’s Child‘s The Writing’s On The Wall at 20.6 million, which was released when Beyoncé was 17. Both Olivia and Billie are poised to fight for the second spot in the upcoming years.

We can also mention Up All Night by One Direction (Harry Styles was 17) at 16.9 million, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5 by the Jackson 5 (Michael Jackson was 12) at 14.5 million, and Pure Heroine by Lorde at 11.8 million.

Others, such as Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, LeAnn Rimes, Hanson, or Miley Cyrus, found early success, but none of their albums reached this milestone.

From Virality to Longevity: The Journey of WWAFAWDWG

The album’s launch in 2019 was built around a perfect storm. bad guy exploded as a viral sensation, racking up billions of streams and topping the Billboard Hot 100 after dethroning Old Town Road. While songs like Ocean Eyes, Lovely, and When The Party’s Over were already buzzing, for a relative newcomer to define a summer on that scale was a story in itself. The album opened at the top of the charts and remained firmly inside the top 10 for most of the year, all around the world.

Then came the Grammys. In 2020, Billie made history as the youngest artist to sweep the “Big Four” categories — Album, Record, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist — all off the back of this album. Overnight, WWAFAWDWG became not just a hit record but a generational stamp of approval.

And crucially, it didn’t fade. Year after year, the album has held its audience. Even in 2025, it adds nearly 4,800 units every day through streaming alone. Surges came when Billie dropped Happier Than Ever in 2021, and again with smash album Hit Me Hard and Soft in 2024, which drove fans back to the beginning of her catalog. Few albums from any era combine that kind of explosive entry with steady, long-haul relevance.

Breaking Down the Numbers: Where Do the 20M Units Come From?

The mechanics of Billie‘s debut are straightforward, highlighting just how much streaming has rewritten the rules. Out of the album’s 20M CSPC units:

16.8M units come from streaming, the overwhelming majority.
2.65M are from physical sales — a healthy figure for an artist who debuted after the physical era.
3.6M are from digital singles, including iTunes-era downloads still contributing years later.

bad guy alone accounts for nearly 3 billion Spotify plays, while tracks like when the party’s over, i love you, and bury a friend each crossed the billion barrier as well. Together, they anchor a streaming profile that remains among the most durable of the 2010s. A total of 12 songs have surpassed 500 million streams: the album’s entire track list, excluding the intro and outro.

As for sales, WWAFAWDWG has been crushing vinyl and pure sales rankings since day 1. It has remained on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart for up to 198 weeks, including 56 weeks in the top 10. Outside of Taylor Swift‘s blockbusters and K-pop heroes, only Adele‘s 30 has outsold it worldwide since its release.

Billie Among the Greats: How WWAFAWDWG Stacks Up

At 20 million, Billie‘s debut sits shoulder to shoulder with some of the most successful female albums of all time. It edges records like Rihanna‘s Loud and Shakira‘s Laundry Service, both of which hover around 19 million, while placing it just behind albums like Madonna‘s Ray of Light, Cher‘s Believe, and Beyoncé’s Dangerously In Love. At the moment, WWAFAWDWG ranks as the 44th best-selling female album of all time.

Best-selling female albums ever, solo & groups, positions 35-50

Compared to her peers, Billie‘s numbers are still elite. Olivia Rodrigo‘s SOUR is at 21.6M units, slightly ahead, while Dua Lipa‘s Future Nostalgia trails at 19.1M. Harry Styles‘ top albums have yet to sell 15 million copies. For Gen Z debuts, Billie, Olivia, and Dua are clearly the leading trio.

Placed in a broader timeline, Billie‘s debut joins the long tail of albums that will continue climbing for years. The fact that it’s still adding nearly 3.7M daily Spotify streams suggests the story is far from over.

Cultural Impact Beyond the Numbers

Numbers tell us what happened. Culture tells us why it mattered.

With WWAFAWDWG, Billie Eilish cracked open a new space in pop. Its hushed vocals, heavy bass, and claustrophobic sound design felt nothing like the polished pop dominating radio in 2019. Within months, copycats were everywhere, and the idea of “bedroom pop” went from niche to mainstream.

Her visual identity mattered too. The oversized clothes, the DIY videos, the refusal to fit neatly into clean pop archetypes — they became part of Gen Z’s language. Few artists have reshaped what a pop star looks like this quickly.

The recognition was immediate. The Grammy sweep sealed its critical legitimacy. On TikTok, bad guy became one of the platform’s early anthems, spawning endless memes and reintroducing the track to younger audiences well after its chart peak. Even now, songs like when the party’s over resurface in viral edits, proof of how sticky the album remains in digital culture.

Cultural impact can be hard to measure, but with Billie‘s debut, you don’t need a microscope. It shifted sound, style, and the way a generation found its voice in pop music.

Conclusion

For an album largely crafted by two teenagers in a bedroom, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? now stands among the most successful debuts in history, having crossed the 20 million CSPC milestone. It is part of a small club that includes Britney, Avril, and Adele — and yet it feels entirely its own.

Billie‘s debut is not just a product of its time but a blueprint for the future: proof that in the streaming age, albums can still become monolithic, shaping culture and piling up numbers with the weight of a greatest hits package.

Six years in, the album has become more than a career launchpad. It is already a classic, one whose influence will echo far beyond the 20 million mark. Now, the question is, how long until it reaches 25 million? At the current pace, it will not need more than three years.

Everything About Billie Eilish

Want the complete picture of Billie Eilish‘s career? Her Artist Dashboard brings everything together in one place: equivalent album sales by song and album, streaming breakdowns, milestones, and updated rankings at a glance. Below are some screenshots.