Rihanna

With estimated sales exceeding 250 million records, Robyn Rihanna Fenty, known as Rihanna, ranks among the best-selling music artists of all time. Born February 20, 1988, she is a Barbadian singer, songwriter, businesswoman and actress whose recording career has moved between Caribbean pop, R&B, dance-pop, synth-pop and more eclectic forms of pop.

After signing with Def Jam Recordings, Rihanna introduced herself with the Caribbean-influenced Music of the Sun in 2005 and A Girl Like Me in 2006. Both albums reached the top ten of the US Billboard 200. Their lead singles, “Pon de Replay” and “SOS,” peaked at numbers two and one, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100. Her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), shifted toward dance-pop and R&B and became her best-selling album. Its 2008 reissue, Reloaded, continued a run of major singles that included the US number ones “Umbrella,” “Take a Bow” and “Disturbia.”

Rihanna explored more personal material on the rock-influenced Rated R in 2009, then returned to an upbeat dance-pop approach on Loud (2010) and Talk That Talk (2011). Unapologetic (2012), a synth-pop release, became her first Billboard 200 chart-topper. Across these records, she scored US number-one singles with “Rude Boy,” “Only Girl (In the World),” “What’s My Name?,” “S&M,” “We Found Love” and “Diamonds.” Guest appearances on “Live Your Life,” “Love the Way You Lie” and “The Monster” also reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

After leaving Def Jam for Roc Nation, Rihanna released Anti in 2016. The album became her second Billboard 200 number one and included “Work,” another US chart-topper. Since then, she has released singles and performed sporadically. Her screen work includes Battleship (2012), Home (2015), Ocean’s 8 (2018) and Smurfs (2025).

Rihanna has received nine Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, thirteen American Music Awards and seven MTV Video Music Awards. The Recording Industry Association of America recognizes her as its highest-certified female digital single artist; she has eight diamond-certified singles and fourteen Billboard Hot 100 number ones. Beyond music, she founded the Clara Lionel Foundation, Fenty Beauty and the Fenty fashion brand under LVMH. She was named an ambassador by the Government of Barbados in 2018 and declared a National Hero of Barbados in 2021. She is also the first female musician to achieve billionaire status.