To the surprise of no one, Billboard has crowned Taylor Swift its #1 Woman Artist of the 21st Century as part of its countdown of the biggest artists and songs of the first 25 years of our current century.
The ranking is based on performance on the Billboard 200 album chart and the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and Taylor has dominated on both. Her most recent album, The Tortured Poets Department, became her 14th Billboard #1 album — the most among women this century. What’s more, when that album was released, songs from it secured the #1 through #14 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously.
Number two on Billboard‘s list is Rihanna. Even though she hasn’t released an album since 2016, she’s still scored 14 #1 hits — the most of any artist in the first 25 years of this century — as well as eight top-10 albums. Beyoncé is #3, thanks to her nine #1 hits and eight #1 studio albums.
Adele is #4. Her second album, 21, spent 24 weeks at #1, more than any other album by a woman. Her third album, 25, sold a record 3.38 million copies in a single week. Katy Perry‘s #5: Her 2010 album, Teenage Dream, is the only one by a woman to generate five #1 singles.
The rest of the top 10 are Lady Gaga (#6), Pink (#7), Ariana Grande (#8), Miley Cyrus (#9) and Alicia Keys (#10).
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