Rihanna Overview
This is a review of the best hits of Rihanna and her career as a singer. She has sold over 30 million albums and over 120 singles worldwide, which makes her one of the best-selling artists of all time. She has achieved thirteen number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the youngest and fastest solo artist to achieve the feat. When singing on stage she goes by the name of Rihanna. She also has six singles that rank among the best-selling singles of all time: “Umbrella”, “Disturbia”, “Only Girl (In the World)”, “S&M”, “We Found Love” and “Diamonds”. She has sold over 41 million albums and 150 million singles worldwide making her one of the best-selling artists of all-time.
Here is the rest of her story…
Early Life
She was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988, in St. Michael, Barbados. Her mother is Monica Braithwaite, a retired Afro-Guyanese accountant, and her father is Ronald Fenty, a warehouse supervisor of Barbadian and Irish descent. Rihanna has two brothers, Rorrey and Rajad Fenty, and two half-sisters and a half-brother from her father’s side, each born to different mothers from his previous relationships.
She lived in a three-bedroom bungalow in Bridgetown and sold clothes with her father on the street. She was deeply affected by her father’s addiction to cocaine, alcohol, marijuana, and her parent’s turbulent marriage which ended when she was 14. Rihanna grew up listening to “reggae” music and began singing at the age of seven. She attended Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School and Combermere High School, where she formed a trio with two of her classmates. She did not graduate from high school because she pursued a musical career.
Rihanna’s Music Career
Rihanna’s career began through her association with American record producers Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers whom she met through mutual friends in Barbados in December 2003. She was asked by Rogers to perform renditions of the songs “Emotion” and “Hero” and impressed Rogers who took Rihanna and her mother to New York to demo tapes. She was signed to Rogers and Sturken’s production company, Syndicated Rhythm Productions, who also assigned her a lawyer and manager.
Her demo tape was distributed to record labels around the world, and captured the attention of Jay Brown, an A&R executive at Def Jam recordings. Rihanna flew up to New York City to audition for Jay-Z and industry executive L.A. Reid, performing Whitney Houston’s version of “For the Love of You”. That same day Rihanna signed a six-album record deal with Def Jam Recordings, and moved to New York City.
Rihanna Recording Success
Rihanna spent the next three months collaborating with rapper Memphis Bleek on his fourth studio album “534” and recording her debut album “Music of the Sun” in 2005. This album produced Rihanna’s first solo single and top ten hit “Pon De Replay” which peaked at #2 in July on the Hot 100 chart.
Her second studio album “A Girl Like Me” produced her first number one single “SOS” in 2006, and stayed at the top position for three weeks. It also produced two top ten hits “Unfaithful” #6 and “Break It Off” #9.
Her third album “Good Girl Gone Bad” produced her second number one hit “Umbrella” which stayed on top for seven weeks in 2007. This single sold over 6.6 million copies worldwide. The album produced two more top ten hits “Hate That I Love You” #7 and “Don’t Stop The Music” #3.
Her next album “Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded” produced two number one hits “Take A Bow” for one week, and “Disturbia” for two weeks in 2008. The single Disturbia sold over 5.1 million copies worldwide. The studio album “Rated R” produced her fifth number one single “Rude Boy” which stayed on top of the charts for 5 weeks in 2010.
The studio album “Loud” produced three more number one hits for Rihanna in 2010: “Only Girl (In The World)” for one week, “What’s My Name” for one week in 2010, and “S&M” for one week in 2011. The single “Only Girl (In The World)” sold over 5.7 million copies & “S&M” sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide. She now has eight #1 hits in five years.
Her next album “Talk That Talk” produced her ninth number one hit “We Found Love” which was her most successful single of her career so far with over 8.1 million copies sold worldwide and stayed on top of the Hot 100 for 10 weeks, in 2011.
Her last studio album “Unapologetic” produced her 10th solo #1 hit “Diamonds” in 2012, and stayed at #1 for three weeks. This single has sold over 7.5 million copies worldwide.
She also has three number ones with other artists: “Live Your Life” #1 for 6 weeks with T.I. in 2008; “Love The Way You Lie” #1 for 7 weeks with Eminem in 2010 selling over 13.6 million copies worldwide; and “The Monster” with Eminem in 2013 #1 for four weeks, giving Rihanna a total of 13 number one hits on the Hot 100.
Awards
Rihanna has won sixth Grammy Awards. She joins Elvis Presley and The Beatles as one of the three acts to have scored a number one single each year over seven consecutive years in the chart’s history. She also established a new record in
achieving 13 chart toppers in the fastest time surpassing Mariah Carey’s record of seven years, 8 months and 19 days.
All told, Rihanna has 13 #1’s, 21 top ten, 24 top 20 and 25 top 40 hits. She also has 5 top ten albums. Billboard ranks Rihanna as the #3 Artist from 2000-2010 and the #49 artist of all time from 1955-2010.
Number One and Top Ten Hits
Below is a complete listing of Rihanna’s number one hits in bold, and top ten hits with title, date, and number weeks at #1, #2, & #3 in ().
- Pon De Replay – June 11, 2005 #2 (3)
- Unfaithful – May 13, 2006 #6
- SOS – May 13, 2006 #1 (3)
- Break It Off – December 9, 2006 #9
- Umbrella – June 9, 2007 #1 (7)
- Hate That I Love You – September 15, 2007 #7
- Don’t Stop The Music – December 8, 2007 #3 (4)
- Take A Bow – May 24, 2008 #1 (1)
- Disturbia – August 23, 2008 #1 (2)
- Live Your Life – October 18, 2008 #1 (6)
- Run This Town – August 15, 2009 #2 (1)
- Rude Boy – March 27, 2010 (5)
- Love The Way You Lie – July 31, 2010 #1 (7)
- What’s My Name? – November 20, 2010 #1 (1)
- Only Girl (In The World) – December 4, 2010 (1)
- S&M – April 30, 2011 #1 (1)
- We Found Love – November 12, 2011 #1 (10)
- Diamonds – December 1, 2012 #1 (3)
- The Monster – December 21, 2013 #1 (4)
Her Biggest #1 Hit Song We Found Love
Shop Rihanna Hit Songs
Rihanna is currently going on a fast track to breaking all Billboard records for solo artists. You can own a vast majority of her greatest hits with the album Rihanna’s – 3 CD Collector’s Set 41 Tracks
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