Taylor Swift Is No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Artists of the 21st Century Chart

Among the top 10 acts on Billboard’s Top Artists of the 21st Century recap, Usher’s chart history dates back the furthest, as he made his debut on weekly rankings in 1993. During the first 25 years of the 21st century, the pop/R&B luminary scored four Billboard 200 No. 1 albums and eight Hot 100 No. 1 songs – including four from his landmark 2004 LP, Confessions.

“I’m still standing, rejuvenated with a new peace, confidence and energy,” Usher told Billboard in 2010. “I’ve got fire in my eyes.”

Dating to the pop/R&B singer’s 2010 Billboard chart debut, Bruno Mars has notched one Billboard 200 No. 1 album – Unorthodox Jukebox, in 2013 – and eight Hot 100 No. 1 songs. His chart history includes music credited to Silk Sonic, his team-up with Anderson .Paak, which resulted in the 2021 Hot 100 chart-topper “Leave the Door Open.”

Justin Bieber first appeared on Billboard’s charts in 2009 – a pop wunderkind at age 15, and mentored by Usher. He rang up eight No. 1s on both the Billboard 200 albums chart and the Hot 100 No. 1 songs chart through the first 25 years of the century. 2015’s Purpose spun off his first three Hot 100 leaders: “What Do You Mean?,” “Sorry” and “Love Yourself.”

After breaking through on Billboard’s charts in 1997 as a member of Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé became a household name on her own, having made her chart debut as a soloist in 2002. Traversing pop, R&B/hip-hop, dance and country, she achieved eight Billboard 200 No. 1 albums and nine Hot 100 No. 1 songs through the first 25 years of the 21st century, including 2024’s Cowboy Carter and “Texas Hold ‘Em,” respectively.

“I’m attracted to songs that will become a dinner conversation,” Beyoncé mused in a 2011 Billboard interview. “With [2008’s] ‘Single Ladies,’ there was the whole Justin Timberlake thing [re-creating the video] on Saturday Night Live, and it was also the year YouTube blew up. With ‘Irreplaceable’ [in 2006], the aggressive lyrics, the acoustic guitar, and the 808 [drum machine] – those things don’t typically go together, and it sounded fresh. ‘Crazy in Love’ [from 2003] was another one of those classic moments in pop culture that none of us expected.”

Since The Weeknd first reached Billboard’s charts in 2011, the pop/R&B star earned four Billboard 200 No. 1 albums and seven Hot 100 No. 1 songs through the first 25 years of the century. In 2021, his “Blinding Lights” claimed the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Songs retrospective.

After first hitting Billboard’s charts in 1999, Eminem reigned with 11 Billboard 200 No. 1 albums and five Hot 100 No. 1 songs from 2000 through the first 25 years of the century. The renowned rapper’s Billboard 200 history includes 10 consecutive No. 1 albums between 2000 and 2020.

From his 2015 Billboard chart arrival in hop-hop to likewise successful turns covering pop, rock and, most recently, country, Post Malone logged three Billboard 200 No. 1 albums and six Hot 100 No. 1 songs through the first 25 years of the century. F-1 Trillion launched atop the Billboard 200 in August 2024 and yielded the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs No. 1 (and the top title on the 2024 Songs of the Summer chart), “I Had Some Help,” featuring Morgan Wallen.

Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn told Billboard of Post Malone, who was partly raised in Texas, “You see him step out on stage, at [Nashville’s] The Bluebird Café and stuff … I’d have to have cue cards all over the floor, but he knows these country songs. He’s like a savant. He’s sincerely a country music fan.”

Rihanna roared onto Billboard’s charts at age 17 in 2005, blending pop, R&B/hip-hop and dancehall into a sound all her own. Through the first 25 years of the century, she achieved two Billboard 200 No. 1 albums and 14 Hot 100 No. 1 songs – the latter the most among all artists in that span.

Dating to his 2009 breakthrough, Drake dominated with 13 No. 1s on both the Billboard 200 albums chart and the Hot 100 No. 1 songs chart through the first 25 years of the century. The pop/hip-hop cornerstone also amassed a record 78 Hot 100 top 10s. In 2021, he became the first artist since The Beatles in 1964 to lock down the Hot 100’s top five in a single week.

After Taylor Swift arrived on Billboard’s charts in 2006, she scored 14 Billboard 200 No. 1 albums and 12 Hot 100 No. 1 songs through the first 25 years of the century. She also notched 59 Hot 100 top 10s, the most all-time among women. Plus, she has banked 86 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the most among soloists.

“When I was 10 I watched a special on Faith Hill and how she went to Nashville and made it in country music,” Swift, then 19, told Billboard in 2009. “I just love what I get to do so much that there’s never a moment of my day when I’m not thinking about a certain aspect of it, and there’s never a point when I feel like I know all I need to know about the music industry.”