Beyoncé

One of the most recognisable figures in contemporary music, Beyoncé rose to fame in the late ’90s as the central member of pop-R&B group Destiny’s Child, and the following decade embarked on a multi-platinum, record-breaking solo career with Dangerously in Love (2003), her first in an unbroken string of No.1 pop solo albums.

Chart-topping singles such as ‘Crazy in Love’ (2003), ‘Irreplaceable’ (2006), and ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)’ (2008), combined with sold-out world tours and Grammy awards, all heightened her profile in the 2000s. Billboard named her female artist of the decade, while the RIAA acknowledged that, with 64 gold and platinum certifications, she was the decade’s top-selling artist.

Beyoncé continued to diversify in the 2010s with the visual albums Beyoncé (2013) and Lemonade (2016), followed by the Jay-Z collaboration Everything Is Love (2018) and her work on the remake of The Lion King (2019). The latter project was expanded with the soundtrack The Lion King: The Gift, executive-produced by Beyoncé, who also wrote and directed the related musical film Black Is King (2020).

Beyoncé has since become the most awarded artist in Grammy history with Renaissance (2022), a cosmopolitan dancefloor celebration tying together gospel, disco, house, bounce, and Afrobeats with nods to ballroom culture. The second act in that series, Cowboy Carter (2024), carried Beyoncé into the country music realm and topped the pop, country, and folk charts.