As Swift revealed on May 30, she bought back the master recordings of her first six albums, marking the first time she’s been in control of her entire discography. Throughout a total of 31 tracks, the prolific songwriter shelved the glittery pop radio-friendly tunes in favor of more subdued, synthy and heart-wrenching songs. Midnights helped further solidify Swift’s larger-than-life status at the finale of the 2024 GRAMMYs, too, as she became the only artist in history to win Album Of The Year four times. Along with breaking several streaming records — including becoming the first album to exceed 700 million global streams in a week — it was Swift’s 11th No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200, and was the highest-selling album of 2022 (and, remarkably, the second best-selling of 2023).
Its second single, «If It’s Lovin’ That You Want», peaked at number 36 in the US. After Rihanna signed with Def Jam, Jay-Z and his team spent three months completing her debut studio album. She waited in Jay-Z’s office while lawyers finalized a six-album contract with Def Jam. In early 2005, she performed in New York City for Jay-Z and music executive Antonio «L.A.» Reid, singing Whitney Houston’s «For the Love of You» along with demo tracks «Pon de Replay» and «The Last Time».
Instead, she wanted to capture the years of her life while they still represented what she was going through, writing about what she was observing and experiencing, from love and friendship to feeling like an outsider. Written throughout her adolescence, Taylor Swift was recorded at the end of 2005 and finalized by the time Swift finished her freshman year of high school. In a genre dominated by men, the odds were already stacked against Swift when she first broke into country music as a teenage female artist.

Early Life

Adopting a more mature image, Rihanna rose to stardom and transitioned to dance-pop and R&B with the album Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) and its reissue, subtitled Reloaded (2008). Known for her artistic reinventions, she is an influential figure in both music and fashion. She’s closing a chapter of her life — saying goodbye to the heartbreaks, pleading and scrutiny — and embracing a new, well, era that was quietly created during the behind-the-scenes of The Eras Tour. At its heart, The Life of a Showgirl goes beyond the fame, accolades, praise, and anything else Swift has been awarded in her 20-year career. Swift herself has long embodied independence through redefining over and over what it means to be a pop star for over two decades.

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That year, fans also got their first glimpse of the pop superstar alongside Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, and Anne Hathaway in trailers for Ocean’s 8, a female-led spinoff of the popular Ocean’s Trilogy which hit theaters in June 2018. It also spawned the popular radio hits “Needed Me” and “Love on the Brain.” At the 2014 Grammy Awards, Unapologetic won Best Urban Contemporary Album, marking the singer’s first win in an album category. In November 2012, Rihanna scored her first No. 1 album with Unapologetic. The pop star delivered her next effort, Talk That Talk, in November 2011. Rihanna returned back and better than ever in November 2010 with her fifth studio album, Loud.
Rolling Stone included her single «Umbrella» in its list of the «500 Greatest Songs of All Time» and her album Anti amongst the «500 Greatest Albums of All Time». She is the UK’s third best-selling female artist of the 21st century, having sold seven million albums. In August 2018, Billboard ranked Rihanna as the tenth-most successful Hot 100 artist of all time and it also named her the top Hot 100 artist of the 2010s. She has accumulated numerous awards and honours, including nine Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, and thirteen American Music Awards.

• The dance-pop and R&B heavy record, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, featured several hit songs, including the singles “Don’t Stop the Music,” “Shut Up and Drive,” and “Hate That I Love You” with Ne-Yo.
• Along with giving GRAMMY gold to the likes of Smashing Pumpkins, Slayer and Vampire Weekend, the Recording Academy has embraced the odd musical spooktacular in several forms.
• On Midnights, Swift leaves behind indie folk sounds and returns to the pop production of 1989 and Lover.
• Instead of writing songs akin to «I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,» a song about performing in the midst of heartbreak and grief, Swift opted to focus on what people don’t necessarily see when they buy a ticket to a show.
• In addition to being a talented recording artist, Rihanna is a billionaire entrepreneur with multiple successful business ventures.
• Swift still remained in the pop lane with reputation, largely leaning on Antonoff and the Martin/Shellback team.

Who is Rihanna?

She also won her first GRAMMY in 2008 (Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for «Umbrella») and scored four other nominations, including Record Of The Year. Good Girl Gone Bad remains Rihanna’s best-selling album and marks her greatest reinvention as she adopted a more rebellious sound. The melancholy «Rehab» is a clever metaphor for lost love, co-written by Timbaland and Justin Timberlake. Produced by Tricky Stewart, the LP’s juggernaut lead single «Umbrella» featuring Jay-Z skyrocketed to No. 1 in 17 countries. Her official introduction to the world also hit No. 1 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart; she boasts 33 on the tally, second behind only the Queen of Pop herself, Madonna.

‘Recession pop’ and new Christian music surge in the US as streaming growth slows

Her debut album, «Music of the Sun,» further solidified her presence, selling over two million copies worldwide and setting the stage for her meteoric rise in the years to come. Jay-Z was immediately captivated, signing her on the spot and launching her career in the music industry. Her journey from a small island to the bustling music scene of America marked the beginning of her transformational career. Relocating from her home in Barbados to Connecticut, she stayed with music producer Evan Rogers and his wife.
In August 2021, Forbes announced that Rihanna had become one of the richest entertainers in the world, estimating her net worth to be $1.7 billion at the time following the success of her cosmetic company. In lieu of another album, the singer-turned-entrepreneur, born Robyn Fenty, launched Fenty Beauty in 2017 in partnership with luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, which also preceded a short-lived luxury fashion line. «20 years ago, i left my country, my culture, my food, and family to embark on a journey that started with the release of my very first body of music!» she wrote in an Instagram caption alongside a montage of her biggest career moments. Rihanna officially becomes a billionaire and Forbes names her the ‘richest female musician’
In 2014, Shakira featured Rihanna on her single «Can’t Remember to Forget You». In December 2013, she topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart with a feature on Eminem’s song «The Monster». Rihanna made a cameo in the comedy film This Is the End (2013), and later collaborated with rapper Wale on his remix of the single «Bad». To promote the album, Rihanna embarked on the 777 Tour, performing seven shows in seven countries over the course of seven days. In September 2012, the music video for «We Found Love» won Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards, making Rihanna the first woman to receive the honour more than once. In March, Rihanna and Brown released two remixes—her track «Birthday Cake» and his «Turn Up the Music»—which were criticized due to their history of domestic violence.
Her work has influenced artists such as Lorde, Sam Smith, Billie Eilish, Selena Gomez, Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding, betista casino Kim Petras, Marilyn Manson, Jessie J, SZA, Ayra Starr, and Demi Lovato. In July 2015, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that Rihanna had surpassed 100 million gold and platinum song certifications. In 2012, she set a Guinness World Record as the best-selling digital artist in the US.
Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy and its Affiliates. And with that tour having celebrated her life’s work up to now, The Life of a Showgirl feels like the exhale before a brand new beginning. «That always chokes me up because it transports me right back to that actual memory of standing on that stage for the last time on that tour that was so important to me, and the tour that really inspired this album. So it’s the last track of the album and a really special one to me.» For a project about being a showgirl, introducing people to the concept of the album at the end was puzzling for some. For her, finding a balance between her career and love, and realizing that they can coexist, makes this album one of Swift’s most — if not the most — romantic to date. Yet these songs admit that she doesn’t want to carry it all alone; she wants partnership, to build something with someone else.
Rihanna has worked with music video director Anthony Mandler on seventeen music videos, the first being «Unfaithful» (2006). Rihanna was also influenced by artists such as Janet Jackson, Aaliyah, Beyoncé, Celine Dion, Grace Jones, Lil’ Kim, Prince, and Brandy. In her youth, Rihanna often watched Bob Marley on television due to his popularity in the Caribbean. Rihanna identified Brandy’s fourth album, Afrodisiac (2004), as a primary source of inspiration for her album Good Girl Gone Bad. After moving to the US, she was exposed to a wide range of musical genres, which she said had a profound effect on her.

• In March, Rihanna and Brown released two remixes—her track «Birthday Cake» and his «Turn Up the Music»—which were criticized due to their history of domestic violence.
• This made her the artist with the most digital single awards and the first performer to exceed RIAA’s 100 million cumulative singles certification threshold.
• Folklore’s impact on the zeitgeist at a time where everyone was stuck at home helped shape people’s quarantine experience.
• Aiming to dismiss her girl-next-door image in favour of a more mature and rebellious persona, she worked with such producers as Ne-Yo, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, and Tricky Stewart for the album.
• As Swift revealed on May 30, she bought back the master recordings of her first six albums, marking the first time she’s been in control of her entire discography.

Retrospective and reflective, Speak Now is an album about the speeches she could’ve, would’ve and should’ve said. The album’s title track pulled from the saying, «Speak now or forever hold your peace,» inspired by a friend’s ex-boyfriend getting engaged; meanwhile, «Mean» was everything Swift wanted to say to a critic who was continuously harsh about her vocals. Along with having more eyes on her, Swift also felt pressured to maintain her persona as a perfect young female role model amid a time when her peers like Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato were attempting to rebrand to be more mature and sexier. But this meant that she faced more publicity and criticism, from naysayers who nitpicked her songwriting and vocals to the infamous Kanye West incident at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

2017: Standalone releases and Anti

A pop and reggae album, A Girl Like Me peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 chart, with 115,000 copies sold in the US in its first week. Impressed, Rogers arranged a second meeting with Rihanna and her mother—this time without the other two girls—and later invited them to his hometown in Connecticut to record demo tapes for record label submissions. Around this time, Rihanna began listening to reggae artists such as Sizzla and Damien Marley, as well as R&B musicians like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. She is the highest-certified female digital single artist by the Recording Industry Association of America, and has seven diamond-certified singles and fourteen number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. These albums contained the US number-one singles «Rude Boy», «Only Girl (In the World)», «What’s My Name?», «S&M», «We Found Love», «Diamonds», and «Work». The albums spawned the singles «Pon de Replay» and «SOS», which peaked at numbers two and one on the US Billboard Hot 100, respectively.
This initial success paved the way for her subsequent albums and chart-topping singles, solidifying her status as a pop powerhouse. Just months later, Rihanna released her first single, «Pon de Replay,» which quickly climbed the charts and established her as a formidable newcomer in pop music. The pop star has an impressive 64 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including 14 No. 1 hits and 32 tracks in the top 10.
Its win for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 2014 GRAMMYs, however, proved that Rihanna’s reign wasn’t letting up anytime soon. «Mr. Jesus, I’d love to be a queen/ But I’m from the left side of an island/ Never thought this many people would even know my name,» she pleads in the seven-minute two-parter. Her swagger is boisterous in «Phresh Out the Runway,» «Jump,» and strip club anthem «Pour It Up,» but «Nobody’s Business» really drives home the album’s theme of being unbothered. Vocally, Rihanna’s strength lies in her ability to evoke raw emotion à la «Stay.» Featuring Mikky Ekko, the stripped-down, slow-burning piano ballad narrowly missed the top spot on the Hot 100 but gave Rihanna her 24th top 10 hit, surpassing Whitney Houston’s record of 23 in 2013. One of Rihanna’s most precious offerings to date, «Diamonds» emerged as a self-love mantra due to its uplifting «Shine bright like a diamond» chant. Its lead single «Diamonds» resonated in an equally major way, giving Rih her 12th No. 1 on the Hot 100.
And in true Swiftian fashion, turning into a pop artist didn’t just prove her genre-shapeshifting capabilities — it further solidified her as an artist who is at her best when she freely creates to her desires and refuses to adhere to anyone. After years of identifying as a country artist and flirting with pop, Swift departed her roots to reinvent herself, no matter what her then-label or critics had to say. On Red, Swift focused on emotions evoked from a hot-and-cold relationship, one that forced her to experience «intense love, intense frustration, jealousy and confusion» — all feelings that she’d describe as «red.»
Rihanna returned to her more upbeat sound with her fifth studio album, Loud, which was released on November 12, 2010. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 181,000 copies in its first week. The incident and its aftermath influenced her artistically, prompting her to begin work on her fourth studio album, titled Rated R, one month after the Grammy Awards. The reissue of Good Girl Gone Bad, subtitled Reloaded, was released on June 2; selling 63,000 copies in its first week, it helped the original album rise to number seven in the US. The resulting album, Good Girl Gone Bad, was released on May 31, 2007, to critical acclaim. Aiming to dismiss her girl-next-door image in favour of a more mature and rebellious persona, she worked with such producers as Ne-Yo, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, and Tricky Stewart for the album.