There was a time when Aretha Franklin was the biggest Black female artist.
There was a time when Diana Ross was the biggest Black female artist.
There was a time when Whitney Houston was the biggest Black female artist.
There was a time when Mariah Carey was the biggest Black female artist.
But only one Black woman has held that title continuously since her solo debut in 2003 and remains the biggest Black female artist to this day.
Her name is Beyoncé.
Toby Gad on working with Beyoncé on the song “If I Were a Boy”
“I finally got the call that Beyoncé wants to work with me. She briefly walked in, and showed me a few of her demos that she had done.
One of them was 'Single Ladies', which floored me. I thought, 'Oh my God, the bar is high.'
And then the next day she came in, and I played her a song that I had just written before with an artist, BC Jean.
Beyoncé listened to it and she said, 'Play that again, Toby.' So I played it again, and then she stood up and says, 'You won't believe this, but I wanna sing this song right now.'
And then we got in the vocal booth, and I recorded her an hour and a half, and she sang every take maybe five, six times. She was in incredible control of her voice and such a boss.
And then after that, we sat at the couch for another half hour. She asked me about my family, and I showed her how to play the song on the guitar, and just a wonderful time. And that was the last time I ever saw Beyoncé! [laughs]”
🚨 beyoncé e bad bunny acabam de se tornar os únicos artistas da HISTÓRIA a ganharem o AOTY e um EMMY no mesmo ano
e fizeram isso em SEQUÊNCIA (2025 e 2026)
Beyoncé is one of the few artists people repeatedly try to cancel for doing absolutely nothing. She’s not online, she donates, she has never spoken negatively about anyone, and she supports artists behind the scenes without seeking praise. She’s a mother of three who has been in the industry for more than 30+ years, yet she’s hated for simply existing.
According to the public, she’s this evil mastermind, with no proof, no evidence, just viral conspiracy theories. It’s a literal representation of how Black women are treated. villainized for simply existing. 💡
I just realized B'day is low-key a Greatest Hits album
Check on it, Irreplaceable, Ring The Alarm, Deja Vu, Resentment, Freakum Dress, Kitty Kat, Greenlight, Get Me Bodied, Upgrade You, Flaws & All, Beautiful Liar and Listen.
All classics.
In honor of Beyoncé’s 45th birthday, here are some of her major achievements:
• Most wins in Grammy history (35)
• Emmy winner
• Most RIAA-certified titles of any female artist in history (103)
• 1k+ awards
• 2 RIAA-certified diamond singles
• Fastest tour by a woman to surpass $100m (9 shows; tie)
• $2b touring revenue
• First Black woman to win ‘Album of the Year’ at the Grammys this century
• First to gross $100m in tour revenue across six different months in BB Boxscore history
• Highest-grossing country music tour ($407m)
• #1 album, single and movie in a single year in the US (twice)
• First woman and American artist to gross $400m on two different tours
• Highest-grossing single-venue run by a soloist in history ($70.2m; 5 shows)
• First woman to gross $17m from a single show
• First woman to debut at #1 in the US with first eight studio albums
• First woman in history to have 7 concert tours gross at least $100m each
• Only woman in history to chart simultaneously at #1 on 23 different Billboard charts
• 35b+ Spotify streams
• 7 albums surpass 2B+ Spotify streams each
• Only act to have two tours surpass $100m with fewer than 10 shows
• Highest-grossing female touring artist in UK history
• 8 #1 albums on Billboard 200
• 9 #1 singles on the Hot 100
• 100+ chart entries on the Hot 100
• MTV Video Vanguard recipient
• First Black female artist to debut at #1 on the Hot Country Songs & Top Country Albums charts
• Crowned 'Greatest Pop Star' of the 21st Century by Billboard
• Biggest female producer of the 21st century on the Hot 100 by Billboard
• 20 Guinness World Records
• Best-selling single in Spain (“Amor Gitano”)
• First Black female artist to have an album reach #1 on Apple Music and iTunes in 100 countries
• Recognized by Rolling Stone as the greatest living entertainer
• First in history to achieve a #1 song, album and film in the US in two separate decades
• Most #1 albums by a Black woman in history
• First woman to top seven of Billboard’s multimetric song charts (Hot 100, Country Songs, Hot/Dance Electronic Songs, Gospel, Latin, R&B & Hip-Hop)
• Most first-day streams for a country album by a female artist in Amazon Music history
• First singer this century to earn 10 #EMMYs nominations
• First Black woman to win a Country category in AMAs' 51-year history
• First woman in Grammy history to receive nominations across 7 different music genres
• ‘COWBOY CARTER’ becomes the first-ever country album to reach #1 on 20 official charts
• Most simultaneous top 50 songs on US Apple Music among women with ‘COWBOY CARTER’ (26)
• Shortest tour to surpass $400m (‘COWBOY CARTER’; 32 shows)
• First woman to hold the entire top three spots on Hot Country Songs
• 200m records sold worldwide
• Biggest album debut by a Black woman in Spotify history
JAY-Z says Bey isn’t performing on her special day, then proceeds to shine the helicopter light on her, tells the crowd to sing her Happy Birthday, FILL THE SKY WITH FIREWORKS IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS CONCERT & THEN WENT INTO NIGGAS IN PARIS 🤯🔥🔥
JAY-Z30 x London 9.4.26