Download Rihanna Top 20 Songs
Didio Overturf
Barbadian singer Rihanna has recorded music for her eight studio albums and has collaborated with other artists for duets and featured songs on their respective albums, which also includes charity songs. After signing a record contract with the Def Jam Recordings in February 2005,[1] Rihanna began to work with producers Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers, who co-wrote and co-produced 12 out of the 15 songs on her 2005 debut album, Music of the Sun.[2] Award-winning songwriter Diane Warren co-wrote the title track,[2][3] while Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Deniece Williams co-wrote the song "Willing to Wait".[4] Sturken and Rogers co-wrote and co-produced 9 songs out of 16 on Rihanna's 2006 album A Girl like Me.[5] The album's lead single "SOS" was written by Evan "Kidd" Bogart and J. R. Rotem.[5] It contains a sped-up sample of "Tainted Love",[6] written in 1965 by Ed Cobb, who was credited as a co-writer on "SOS".[7]
Rihanna's third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad was developed by songwriters and producers with whom she had previously collaborated as well as different artists. Sturken and Rogers co-wrote and co-produced 2 songs out of 13.[8] Different writers and producers, including Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Timbaland and Norwegian production team Stargate (Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel S. Eriksen) significantly contributed to the album, writing and producing a total of nine songs between them.[8] "Don't Stop the Music", the third single to be released from Good Girl Gone Bad, contains a sample of Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and attributes to Jackson as a co-writer.[8] The album was re-released in 2008 and featured new songs written by then-boyfriend Chris Brown and Maroon 5.[8] Rated R, Rihanna's fourth studio album, presented a new creative direction for the singer.[9] Ne-Yo, "Tricky" Stewart, Hermansen and Eriksen produced tracks for the album, as well as Chase & Status and Justin Timberlake.[10] The lyrical content cast an ominous, dark and foreboding tone over Rated R, which critics noted as a step away from her more care-free persona of past albums.[11]
After signing with Def Jam, Jay-Z and his team did the A&R for Rihanna's debut album and spent the next three months recording and completing her debut album.[29] She worked with different producers to complete her debut studio album, primarily Rogers and his production partner Carl Sturken.[31] With several songs to pick as a lead single, "Pon de Replay" was chosen because it seemed like the best song suited for a summer release.[32] In May 2005, her debut single, "Pon de Replay", was released under her mononym "Rihanna". It charted successfully worldwide, peaking in the top five in fifteen countries, including at No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and the UK Singles Chart.[33] The song became a club hit in the United States, peaking at No. 1 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs.[34]
The lead single, "Umbrella", topped the charts in 13 countries and remained at No. 1 in the UK for 10 consecutive weeks, the longest-running No. 1 single there since Wet Wet Wet's single "Love Is All Around" spent 15 weeks at the top in 1994.[52][53] It was Rihanna's first single to be named one of the best-selling singles worldwide, with sales of over 8 million copies.[54][55] The songs "Shut Up and Drive", "Hate That I Love You" (featuring Ne-Yo), and "Don't Stop the Music" were also released as singles, with the latter becoming an international hit. In support of the album, Rihanna began the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour in September 2007, with 80 shows across the US, Canada, and Europe.[56] Rihanna was nominated for several 2008 Grammy Awards for Good Girl Gone Bad, winning Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Umbrella" alongside Jay-Z, her first Grammy Award.[57]
During the late 2000s, Rihanna experimented further with pop, dubstep, and rock music, officially shifting her musical style and image away from the Barbados island girl.[62] Throughout 2008, Rihanna performed on the Glow in the Dark Tour alongside Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, and N.E.R.D.[63] Her third studio album's reissue, Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded, was released in June 2008 with three new songs: "Disturbia", "Take a Bow" and the Maroon 5 duet "If I Never See Your Face Again", plus a Spanglish version of "Hate That I Love You" featuring Spanish pop singer David Bisbal.[64] All four were released as singles and charted highly, reaching peak positions worldwide.[65][66][67] In August 2008, Rihanna and a host of other female singers recorded the charity single "Just Stand Up!", the theme song to the anti-cancer campaign Stand Up to Cancer.[68] "Live Your Life", a duet between T.I. and Rihanna, was released that November and topped the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2016, Rihanna was featured in several singles. The first collaboration single was Kanye West's "Famous", where Rihanna provided uncredited guest vocals. She was then officially featured on Calvin Harris' "This Is What You Came For", which was a success.[144][145] Rihanna was also featured on Drake's "Too Good" and on Mike Will Made It's "Nothing Is Promised".[146][147] In June 2016, Rihanna released "Sledgehammer", a single from the Star Trek Beyond movie soundtrack.[148] On August 28, 2016, Rihanna was honored with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards after performing various medleys of her hit songs.[149][150]
Growing up in Barbados, she mainly listened to reggae, hip hop and soca music.[178] When she first came to the US, she was exposed to different types of music with "rock being one of them, and I fell in love with it. [Now] I love rock music."[178] During her debut, she recorded songs that were inspired by her Caribbean roots and described her early sound as "a fusion of reggae, hip-hop and R&B, with a little something different thrown in".[28][179] Her early dancehall roots can be found on her debut album, Music of the Sun, and its follow-up, A Girl like Me.[180] Her debut album demonstrates the influence of Rihanna's musical heritage of the Caribbean. Kelefa Sanneh of the New York Times complimented its combination of dancehall and reggae, who said, "Dancehall reggae sometimes seems like a furiously insular form of music, but ... Rihanna is only the latest singer to discover how versatile the genre's spring-loaded electronic rhythms can be".[181] Her debut single, "Pon de Replay" features a dancehall-pop mixture that infuses a reggae style, while "If It's Lovin' that You Want" talks about a girl seducing a guy to be her boyfriend.[36] Aiming for artistic growth, A Girl like Me expresses personal experiences that typical 18-year-old girls go through with ballads that were described as elegant and mature.[182] After her second album, she slowly dismissed her dancehall and reggae roots.
Rihanna's musical career has been an experiment with new musical ideas and stated that she wants "to make music that could be heard in parts of the world that I'd never been to".[183] With its provocative subject matter and lyrics, she began incorporating a wide range of genres including, pop, R&B, reggae, dubstep, hip hop and EDM.[184] During a review for Good Girl Gone Bad, Slant Magazine to write that Rihanna "finally figured out that she's a dance artist and the majority of the album is comprised of uptempo dance-pop [songs like]" "Push Up on Me" and "Don't Stop the Music".[185] It represents a departure from the Caribbean sound of her previous albums and is described as a turning point in her career.[186][187] While the first half of the record shares many 1980s pop influences with songs like "Don't Stop the Music" and "Shut Up and Drive", the second half retreats into standard R&B.[15][188]
Recorded after the assault by her then-boyfriend, Chris Brown, Rated R had a much darker tone and was filled with various emotions she experienced throughout 2009.[189] In her fifth album Loud, Rihanna reflects on the fun and energetic vibe she had while recording the album.[90] The album is a mixture of ballads, party anthems and empowering love songs.[190] Talk That Talk was similar to Rated R, as both contain hip hop, R&B, dancehall and dubstep genres.[191] Loud and Talk That Talk saw her explore sexuality in her work ("S&M" and "Birthday Cake") and return to her dancehall roots ("Man Down" and "Watch n' Learn").[192] She also branched out into house music with tracks like "We Found Love", "Only Girl (In the World)" and "Complicated".[193] Her songs are also inspired through record sampling from other artists.[194]
Rihanna has worked with music video director Anthony Mandler on more than a dozen music videos, the first being "Unfaithful" (2006).[217] "We've done 16 videos together; they're not all tough, [...] Yeah, I mean, I'm known for the 'Disturbia's and the 'Russian Roulette's and things like that, but 'Only Girl (In the World)' is certainly an ethereal kind of empowering, beauty-filled video," Mandler said.[217] Jocelyn Vena of MTV wrote, "Rihanna, like Madonna, also has a tendency to make truly thought-provoking music videos that fit the songs they represent. Smattered in between glitzier, more glamorous clips, Madge and Ri want us to think about bigger issues".[193] Jon Bream of the Star Tribune commented "[i]n the tradition of Madonna and Janet Jackson, Rihanna has become the video vixen of the '00s ... Rihanna has perfected the pout, the long-legged strut, and trend-setting hairdos that keep women and men alike checking her out on YouTube."[218] George Epaminondas of InStyle considers Rihanna's music videos to be "cinematic" due to her "blend of lush island rhythms and swinging pop and ... mischievous sensuality."[219]
Rihanna has accumulated 14 No. 1 singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for the third most No. 1 songs in the chart's history.[462] She has been named the top Mainstream Top 40 chart artist of the past twenty years by Billboard; she ranks first with most entries (36), most top tens (23) and most No. 1 songs (10).[463] As of March 2014[update], Rihanna has sold over 18 million singles and 6 million albums in the United Kingdom.[464][465] She is the tenth bestselling[466] and the second bestselling female singles artist in the country, only behind Madonna[467] and is second only to the Beatles for the most million-selling singles in the UK of all time.[468] Her collaboration with Eminem, "Love the Way You Lie", along with "Umbrella", "Disturbia", "Only Girl (In the World)", "We Found Love" and "Diamonds", are among the best-selling singles of all time. Rihanna has seven No. 1 singles on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart,[469] and Airplay chart,[470] as well as sixteen No. 1 singles on the Rhythmic chart.[471] She has also earned over 30 top-ten songs in the UK and Australia.[472]
7c6cff6d22