Justin Bieber – Best Iconic Biography & Highlights 2025

Introduction

Justin Bieber (/ˈbiːbər/ BEE-bər; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a prominent figure in contemporary popular music, he rose to fame in the late 2000s after being discovered on YouTube, and his debut extended play, My World (2009), received international recognition and established him as a teen idol.

Bieber rose to further fame with his debut album, My World 2.0 (2010), which topped the US Billboard 200 — making him the youngest solo male to do so in 47 years. Its lead single, “Baby” (featuring Ludacris), became one of the best-selling singles in the United States, while its accompanying music video became the most disliked video on YouTube. His second album, Under the Mistletoe (2011), became the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut atop the chart. Bieber explored dance-pop on his third album, Believe (2012); its acoustic re-release made him the first artist in Billboard history to have five US number-one albums by the age of 18.

Bieber explored EDM with his 2015 single “Where Are Ü Now“, which won the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording. This influenced his fourth album, Purpose (2015), which yielded the singles “Love Yourself”, “Sorry”, and “What Do You Mean?” — all three peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 and simultaneously entered the top three spots on the UK singles chart, making him the first musical act to do so in the chart’s history. Two of his 2017 guest appearances — on DJ Khaled’s “I’m the One” and Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” — peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100, with the latter winning him a Latin Grammy Award.

His fifth and sixth albums, Changes (2020) and Justice (2021), both topped the Billboard 200; the latter included his seventh US-number one single “Peaches” and made him break Elvis Presley’s 1965 record for the youngest solo act to have eight US number-one albums. Also in 2021, he released his eighth US number-one single, “Stay” (with the Kid Laroi). Bieber’s seventh and eighth albums, Swag and Swag II, were released in 2025.

Early life

Justin Drew Bieber was born on March 1, 1994, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ontario, and was raised in Stratford. His parents, Jeremy Jack Bieber and Pattie Mallette, were both 18 when Bieber was born and split up not long after his birth. Pattie worked a series of low-paying office jobs, raising Bieber as a single mother in low-income housing. Mallette’s mother Diane and stepfather Bruce helped her raise Bieber. Bieber has maintained contact with his father. His ancestry includes French, Irish, English, Scottish, and German.

Bieber has three younger half-siblings; the four share the same father, Jeremy Bieber. Jeremy Bieber and his ex-girlfriend, Erin Wagner, who broke up in 2014 after seven years together, have two children, daughter Jazmyn and son Jaxon. Jeremy married his girlfriend Chelsey in February 2018, and they have a daughter named Bay. Bieber also has a stepsister named Allie, the daughter of his stepmother.

Bieber attended two French-language immersion elementary schools in Stratford, Jeanne Sauvé Catholic School and Bedford Public School. In grades 7 and 8, he attended Stratford Northwestern. Former teacher Kim Booker often recalled fond memories of Bieber as her student and is featured in several interviews. He attended Stratford’s St. Michael Catholic Secondary School and graduated in 2012 with a 4.0 GPA.

Growing up, he learned to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet. In early 2007, at age 12, Bieber performed Ne-Yo’s “So Sick” for a local singing competition in Stratford, in which he placed second. Mallette posted a video of the performance on YouTube for their family and friends to see. She continued to upload videos of Bieber singing covers of various R&B songs, and his popularity on the site grew. In the same year, Bieber busked shows in front of the Avon Theatre steps with a rented guitar during the tourism season.

Career

2007–2009: Career beginnings and My World

While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def Recordings, clicked on one of Bieber’s 2007 YouTube videos by accident, where he was covering Ne-Yo’s “So Sick.” Impressed, Braun tracked down Bieber’s school, the theatre Bieber was performing at, and finally contacted his mother Mallette, who was initially reluctant because of Braun’s Judaism. She remembered praying, “God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label!” and, “God, you don’t want this Jewish kid to be Justin’s man, do you?” However, church elders convinced her to let Bieber go with Braun. At age 13, Bieber went to Atlanta, Georgia, with Braun to record demo tapes. Bieber began singing for Usher one week later.

Bieber soon signed with RBMG (Raymond Braun Media Group), a joint venture between Braun and Usher. Justin Timberlake was reportedly also in the running to sign Bieber but lost the bidding war to Usher, partly due to the idea that two associated singers of the same name would confuse the market.

Usher then sought assistance in finding a label home for the artist from then manager Chris Hicks, who helped arrange an audition with his contact L.A. Reid of the Island Def Jam Music Group. Reid signed Bieber to Island Records in October 2008, resulting in a joint venture between RBMG and Island Records, and appointed Hicks as executive vice-president of Def Jam, where he could manage Bieber’s career at the label. Bieber then moved to Atlanta with his mother to pursue further work with Braun and Usher. Braun became Bieber’s manager in 2008.

2010–2011: My World 2.0, Never Say Never, and Under the Mistletoe

Bieber was a presenter at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on January 31, 2010. He was invited to be a vocalist for the remake of the charity single “We Are the World” for its 25th anniversary to benefit Haiti after the earthquake. Bieber sings the opening line, which was sung by Lionel Richie in the original version. On March 12, 2010, a version of K’naan’s “Wavin’ Flag”, recorded by a collective of Canadian musicians known as Young Artists for Haiti, was released.

Bieber is featured in the song, performing the closing lines. In January 2010, “Baby” was released from his debut album, My World 2.0. The song featured Ludacris and became an international hit. It charted at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaked at number three on the Canadian Hot 100, and reached the top ten in several international markets.

The singles “Never Let You Go” and “U Smile” were top 30 hits on the US Hot 100 and top 20 hits in Canada. The album received generally favourable reviews. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, making Bieber the youngest solo male act to top the chart since Stevie Wonder in 1963. My World 2.0 also debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, Irish Albums Chart, Australian Albums Chart, and the New Zealand Albums Chart, and reached the top 10 in fifteen other countries.

On My World 2.0, Bieber’s voice was noted to be deeper than it was in his debut EP, due to puberty. In April 2010, the singer remarked regarding his vocals: “It cracks. Like every teenage boy, I’m dealing with it and I have the best vocal coach in the world … Some of the notes I hit on ‘Baby’ I can’t hit any more. We have to lower the key when I sing live.”

Bieber guest-starred in the season premiere of the CBS American crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which aired on September 23, 2010. He played a “troubled teen who is faced with a difficult decision regarding his only brother,” who is also a serial bomber. Bieber was also in a subsequent episode of the series, which aired on February 17, 2011, in which his character is killed. Bieber performed a medley of his singles.

“U Smile,” “Baby,” and “Somebody to Love,” and briefly played the drums at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010. Bieber announced in October 2010 that he would be releasing an acoustic album called My Worlds Acoustic. It was released on November 26, 2010, in the United States and featured acoustic versions of songs from his previous albums, along with a new song titled “Pray.” In October 2010, Bieber released his first book, Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story, an autobiography with text from Bieber and photographs by Robert Caplin.

2015–2017: Purpose

In February 2015, Bieber released “Where Are Ü Now,” a collaboration with Jack Ü. The song peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. It earned Bieber his first Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.

In March 2015, Bieber made an appearance in the music video for Carly Rae Jepsen’s single “I Really Like You.” In the same month, Bieber was the featured roastee in Comedy Central’s annual roast special and was a contestant on the reality competition series Lip Sync Battle. Bieber also filmed an episode for the Fox TV reality series Knock Knock Live, which aired before the show was cancelled after two episodes.

On August 28, 2015, Bieber released a new single titled “What Do You Mean?” as the lead single from his fourth studio album, Purpose. The song is a blend of teen pop, electronic dance music, and acoustic R&B. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and became Bieber’s first number-one single in the country. He set a Guinness World Record by becoming the youngest solo male artist to debut at the top of the Hot 100. It also broke the record for the fastest song to reach number one on US iTunes, reaching the top spot in under five minutes.

On September 4, 2015, Bieber was co-featured alongside Young Thug on the album track “Maria I’m Drunk,” from Travis Scott’s debut studio album, Rodeo. On October 23, 2015, Bieber released the album’s second single, titled “Sorry,” which debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. After eight non-consecutive weeks at number two, in the week charting January 23, 2016, “Sorry” climbed to the top of the chart and became Bieber’s second number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100.

2023–present: Hiatus, Swag and Swag II

In January 2023, Bieber sold his music publishing rights and recording catalogue shares, up to the end of 2021, to Hipgnosis Songs Fund—a sale valued at over $200 million. Bieber was reportedly offered to be a headlining performer at Coachella 2023 but declined to focus on his seventh studio album. On February 24, 2023, Don Toliver released the single “Private Landing” with Bieber co-featured alongside Future. He joined Toliver on stage at the 2023 Rolling Loud festival to deliver a surprise performance of the song. On September 15, 2023, Bieber released an acoustic version of the single “Snooze” by SZA and starred in its music video as the latter’s love interest.

In April 2025, NetEase Cloud Music named Bieber as the most streamed European/American artist in the platform’s 12-year history with more than 11.9 billion streams. On July 10, 2025, Bieber released his seventh studio album titled Swag, shortly after teasing an upcoming project through billboards in Iceland earlier that same day. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 163,000 equivalent album units earned in the US in its opening week. The album’s lead single, “Daisies,” debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and became his 27th top ten single in the US, tying Janet Jackson for the tenth-most in history. On September 4, Bieber announced his album Swag II would be released the next day.

Achievements

In 2011, Bieber was honoured with a star in front of Avon Theater in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, where he used to busk when he was younger. On November 23, 2012, Bieber was presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by the former Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper. He was one of 60,000 Canadians to receive the Diamond Jubilee Medal that year. In 2013, Bieber received a Diamond award from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for his single “Baby”, which at the time became the highest-

Bieber’s single “Baby” became the highest-certified digital single of all time. He is credited with five Diamond certifications from the RIAA. Bieber has won two Grammy Awards out of 23 nominations, one Latin Grammy Award, eight Juno Awards, two Brit Awards, 26 Billboard Music Awards, 18 American Music Awards, 22 MTV Europe Music Awards (the most wins for any artist), 23 Teen Choice Awards (the most wins for a male individual), eight iHeartRadio Music Awards, and six MTV Video Music Awards.

At age 19, Bieber received the Milestone Award at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards in recognition of breaking boundaries with his creativity and contribution to the musical landscape. As of 2024, all of Bieber’s studio projects are certified Platinum or higher by the RIAA and have received numerous accolades.

Following the release of his fourth studio album, Purpose, Bieber set major milestones globally. He became the first artist, since Elvis Presley in 2005, to replace his own song as number one on the UK Singles Chart. He is the first artist in history to occupy the entire top three of the UK Singles Chart. He achieved this feat as “Love Yourself,” “Sorry,” and “What Do You Mean?” charted at positions 1, 2, and 3 simultaneously. The singles also peaked at number one in the US, making Bieber the first male artist since Justin Timberlake in 2007.

He also became the first solo artist to chart three solo songs in the top five of the US Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, and the first as a lead act since the Beatles in 1964. “Love Yourself” topped Billboard’s Year-End Hot 100 Chart in 2016, followed by “Sorry” at number two, making Bieber only the third artist in history to hold the top-two positions of the Billboard Year-End Hot 100, after the Beatles in 1964 and Usher in 2004.

As of 2024, Bieber has set 35 Guinness World Records in his career, including eight that were achieved from the success of his album Purpose. These records included the most streamed track on Spotify in one week, the most streamed album on Spotify in one week, the most simultaneous tracks on the US Billboard Hot 100, and the most simultaneous new entries on the US Billboard Hot 100 by a solo artist, among others.

Discography

Main article: Justin Bieber discographyStudio albums

My World 2.0 (2010)
Under the Mistletoe (2011)
Believe (2012)
Purpose (2015)
Changes (2020)
Justice (2021)
Swag (2025)
Swag II (2025)

Filmography

Main article: Justin Bieber videography

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011)
Katy Perry: Part of Me (2012)
Zendaya: Behind the Scenes (2012)
Justin Bieber’s Believe (2013)
Behaving Badly (2014)
Lennon or McCartney (2014)
Zoolander 2 (2016)
Bodyguards: Secret Lives from the Watchtower (2016)
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
Killing Hasselhoff (2017)
Justin Bieber: Seasons (2020)
Justin Bieber: Our World (2021)

Tours

Main article: List of Justin Bieber live performances

My World Tour (2010–2011)
Believe Tour (2012–2013)
Purpose World Tour (2016–2017)
Justice World Tour (2022)

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