Joel Little has joined The 1,000,000,000 List with his track ‘Young, Dumb & Broke’ performed by Khalid
Joel received the award at the Global APRA Music Awards in Los Angeles in 2020, where he also took home the Overseas Recognition Award
LA-based New Zealand songwriter and producer Joel Little was duly honoured at the Global APRA Music Awards Los Angeles (26 February) with his place on The 1,000,000,000 List, for his contribution on the Khalid teen anthem 'Young Dumb & Broke,' which he co-wrote with Talay Riley and Khalid Robinson. The song has surpassed the one-billion streams milestone.
The massive hit is certified seven times platinum in Australia and six times platinum in USA, peaking at #18 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and cracking the top ten in Australia and Belgium. It also held the number one spot on the Billboard R&B Songs chart for a staggering eleven weeks.
Released in June 2017, ‘Young Dumb and Broke’ was performed live at the American Music Awards by Imagine Dragons in a mash up with their own song 'Thunder,' with Khalid joining them on stage.
Joel is a noted collaborator, who rose to prominence for his collaborations with Lorde, including 'Royals'. He has worked with Taylor Swift on her #1 Lover album, as well as Imagine Dragons, Jonas Brothers, Tove Lo and more.
“In this business it’s very easy, especially in this town, to get kind of caught up on the next thing – you always stress about what to do next. So it’s nice to stop for a minute and have a night like this to appreciate the things that you’ve done in the past and enjoy them," said Joel when accepting the honour at the awards night.
Sony/ATV Music Publishing Australia MD Damian Trotter was there to accept the publisher award and congratulate Joel for his work.
The 1,000,000,000 List takes into account streaming numbers from major services Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. It is the first award of its kind to recognise a songwriter’s achievement.