Though she's only released her first single six years ago, Rihanna has made quite an impact on the American charts since 2005. The singles charts, that is. The 23-year old still has to release a chart topping album! High hopes are set on "Talk That Talk", her next studio album that will be released later this month. Despite no #1 album, she has already had an enormous amount of ELEVEN number-one singles – only two of which as a featured artist. Click "read more" to go back in time to where it all began, up to where she stands now!
Back in the summer of '05, a fairly sober pop song hit the charts called "Pon De Replay". The song unexpectedly hit the charts quite high, reaching a #2 peak, and became a summer anthem. First album "Music Of The Sun" and follow-up single "If It's Lovin' That You Want" both became only a moderate succes, leading many to believe she would become another one hit wonder. But quickly after a planned third single was cancelled, Rihanna started working on her next album.
In February 2006, she released "SOS". The lead single from her second album "A Girl Like Me" topped the US charts (making it her first US number one single) and earned her EMA and VMA nominations. It proved she wasn't just a one trick pony, but the three follow-up singles all couldn't make the top five. Fourth single "Break It Off" with Jamaican rapper Sean Paul didn't have a music video due to Rihanna and her record company wanting to end this era and start working on the next.
And what a next era it was! Only three months after "Break It Off"'s cancellation, she changed her look, altered her sound and "Umbrella" hit the airwaves. Originally intented for Britney Spears, the song became one of the best-selling singles of the 00's. Needless to say, the song became Riri's second US number one. Future singles of her third effort "Good Girl Gone Bad" also performed well, although it took a re-release in 2008 to generate two more chart toppers, "Take A Bow" and "Disturbia". Her fifth #1 hit was her first featured one, rapper T.I.'s "Live Your Life".
After the succes of "Good Girl Gone Bad", things went downhill for a little while. But the Chris Brown drama in February '09 resulted in Rihanna changing her sound once again, going quite dark this time around. The American public didn't appreciate this much at first, though. "Russian Roulette", the lead single of her fourth studio album "Rated R", made it to #9 on the Billboard charts and follow-up single "Hard" made it to #8. The third single, however, proved to be the most succesful. "Rude Boy" became her sixth chart topper. It was the last single to make big impact on the charts, so Rihanna moved on from her dark, introverted sound and went outrageous and LOUD.
In the meantime, Eminem worked with her on "Love The Way You Lie", which was released in August '10 as the second single from his latest studio album "Recovery" and hit #1 on the charts. One month later, "Only Girl (In The World)" became her eighth single to go to the top of the US charts, and the third lead single to do so. Rihanna's fifth abum in six years, "Loud", went on be her most succesful album – both in sales, singles and chart performances; it equals "Good Girl Gone Bad" as her highest charting album (#2). It has sold a million copies more worldwide, although it didn't sell as well in the US. Its first three singles all peaked at #1, making "What's My Name?" with rapper Drake and "S&M" – thanks to the remix featuring Britney Spears – her ninth and tenth number ones.
Instead of re-releasing "Loud", Rihanna decided to release a full new studio album. "Talk That Talk" will be released worldwide between November 18 and November 23 and is expected to be her first number one studio album. Its lead single, "We Found Love" with Calvin Harris, tied Rihanna with Whitney Houston for the third most number one singles by a female artist. Only Madonna and Mariah Carey have collected more, the first having 12 and the latter 18.
Besides the incredible ammount of number one singles, Rihanna only also holds the record for having amassed twenty top-ten singles in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 in the shortest amount of time. And she hasn't finished her streak yet! With the "Talk That Talk" only at its beginning, who knows how much more number-one singles she'll collect? Also, stay tuned for a review of her album once it hits the internet!
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