Ariana Grande is one of pop’s biggest trend-setters, in music and beyond. From her sky-high ponytail — which has been dyed a rainbow of different hues over the years — to her long sweatshirt sleeves and thigh-scraping boots, the singer has carved out a style that’s just as singular as her R&B-infused pop anthems or her physics-defying vocals.
The Boca Raton native’s unique ability to make a statement is evident across her album covers, too. From her 2013 debut with Yours Truly to her 2024 concept album Eternal Sunshine, inspired in part by the Jim Carrey- and Kate Winslet-starring 2004 sci-fi romance of the same name, Grande and her team have honed the art of capturing the essence of a body of music and translating it into visual artwork, which stands out in any given record store or Target CD section.
But like almost everything else in life, some works are better than others. And while each of Grande’s millions of fans surely has their own favorite of the Grammy winner’s collection of LPs, a few of her covers rule supreme over the rest.
Many different aspects can make or break an album cover, be it choosing just the right photograph, using colors that visually represent the contents of the project or employing props and graphic design pieces that add, not detract from, the overall vibe. The same goes for Grande’s, which over the course of her career have boasted a diverse selection of hairstyles, palettes and poses, and (of course) the occasional bunny mask.
Below, see Billboard’s ranking of Grande’s album covers from worst to best. And to those who say that judging artwork is subjective and therefore pointless, our response: Yes, and?
Grande’s debut album cover is cute, with its bubble gum pink lettering, the singer’s wistful expression and the half-up, half-down hairstyle she popularized in the early 2010s (before graduating to her full-on ponytail). The only thing it lacks is something that would make it stand out more – it’s a little blah compared to the rest of her covers.
Grande’s My Everything artwork gets points for how iconic it is among her fans, and it feels like a natural follow-up to the very similar Yours Truly cover. But even though she’s famously petite, there’s no way that the singer was actually able to sit in that kneeling position on such a tiny stool. The angles are clearly off-kilter, making it obvious that the pose was photoshopped; plus, the text’s font and placement do it no favors, making the title disappear awkwardly into the fray.
The Positions portrait is simple but effective, blending ‘60s beauty trends with a subtle-but-sultry, green-tinted shot of Grande that hints at the more NSFW nature of her sixth album. It’s a lovely cover, just not quite her most memorable one.
Technically, Eternal Sunshine has seven different covers, as unveiled by Grande one-by-one leading up to the LP’s March 8, 2024, release. The best of them are arguably the ones on which the vocalist appears with bright red lipstick and matching chiffon gloves — posing without filters, effects or masks covering her face, giving fans their clearest look at her on an album’s front yet — as well as the one where she comforts herself, leaning poignantly on another Ari’s shoulder.
The front of Thank U, Next is just as effortless and creative as the songs inside, cultivating a very specific edgy-but-feminine aesthetic that would hold strong throughout the album cycle. From the dark, graffiti lettering sprawled on Grande’s neck and chest to the ultra-thick dusty rose border, everything about it just works.
The Sweetener cover made an immediate statement in 2018 for a couple reasons, defying norms simply by being so strikingly upside-down (a visual effect Grande further employed in the music video for lead single “No Tears Left to Cry”). The peach-toned headshot also marked the singer’s first-ever colored album cover, following three straight black-and-white LPs – signifying from the very beginning that Grande was aiming to switch things up with this era.
Dangerous Woman belongs at the top simply because of how iconic it turned out to be – when you see bunny ears nearly a decade later, you still think Ariana Grande. The fact that the cover’s glamorous black-and-white portrait resembles a mugshot makes the package all the more cohesive, giving a perfect visual to the femme fatale aesthetic of many of the album’s tracks.
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