Her path was not an overnight success story. After moving back to London as a teenager to pursue music, she built an audience through covers and early songs before signing with Warner Bros. Records in 2014. Her breakthrough arrived a few years later, when her self-titled debut began producing one hit after another.
The Career That Turned Dua Lipa Into a Global Icon
Lipa’s first major breakthrough came with “New Rules,” the song that changed the scale of her career. Released as part of her 2017 debut album, it became her first UK No. 1 and helped introduce her to a much larger international audience. By the end of that year, she had also become the most-streamed woman in the UK on Spotify, giving her momentum that would carry into the next stage of her career.
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She quickly followed that success with even bigger moments. In 2018, Lipa received five Brit Award nominations and won two, while her collaboration with Calvin Harris, “One Kiss,” became the UK’s best-selling song of the year. The track spent eight weeks at No. 1, further establishing Lipa as an artist who could dominate the charts well beyond her initial breakthrough.
Then came Future Nostalgia, the album that pushed her career into another league. Released in 2020, it leaned heavily into disco, dance-pop and house influences while delivering songs such as “Don’t Start Now,” “Physical,” “Break My Heart” and “Levitating.” The album reached No. 1 in the UK, earned Lipa a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album and produced a run of songs that kept her at the center of pop culture well after its release.
Lipa has since made a point of expanding beyond the recording studio. She stepped into acting with “Barbie” and “Argylle,” while her third album, Radical Optimism, debuted at No. 1 in the UK and included “Houdini,” “Training Season” and “Illusion.” Her reach has also extended into fashion through partnerships with brands including Versace, Puma, Yves Saint Laurent and Adidas.
That combination of music, fashion and film has helped make Lipa much more than a chart success. Time named her one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2024, and Billboard placed her at No. 25 on its ranking of the Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century in 2025. At 31, she enters the next chapter of her career with a track record that already places her among the defining pop stars of her generation.
