Lana Del Rey's “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd” is the best-selling vinyl album of the year so far, the Official Charts Company confirmed on Saturday, April 15. That same day, she joined Jack Antonoff of Bleachers during his set at the High Water Music Festival in Charleston, SC to perform the song “Margaret” live for the first time.
The ninth studio album from Del Ray recently debuted at number one on the Official Albums Chart, adding to the long list of accolades the singer has achieved, including claiming the spot for the second-most hits of all time on Billboard’s Rock Chart.
The lyrics of "Did You Know…,” a nod to Harry Nilsson's 1974 track "Don't Forget Me,” include an acknowledgement to the late singer-songwriter and his sad, wry ballad—a fitting part of Del Ray’s image as an artist seemingly from a different era.
Del Rey’s new album comes two years after the release of “Chemtrails Over the Country Club" in March 2021, and its follow-up “Blue Banisters” that October. Del Rey was also recently featured on the Taylor Swift song "Snow on the Beach," off the star's latest album “Midnights,” which peaked at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, becoming Del Rey's highest-ranking song on that chart.
Del Rey was born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant on June 21, 1985, in Manhattan, New York City. She struggled with alcoholism in her early teens and her parents sent her to boarding school at Kent School to get sober. She struggled to make friends and had a preoccupation with death from a young age that created feelings of anxiety and alienation. Much of her music has a retro-cinematic quality, and explores tragic romance, glamor, and melancholia, with frequent references to contemporary pop culture and 1950s and 1960s Americana.
Del Rey's breakthrough came in 2011 with the viral success of her single "Video Games." Other chart-topping songs include “Summertime Sadness,” and "Young and Beautiful," composed for the romantic drama film “The Great Gatsby,” and "Once Upon a Dream," which was written for the dark fantasy adventure film “Maleficent.” She has won numerous awards, including two Brit Awards, two MTV Europe Music Awards, a Satellite Award, nine GAFFA Awards and was honored by Variety at their Hitmakers Awards for being "one of the most influential singer-songwriters of the 21st century.”