Rihanna

Robyn Rihanna Fenty( /riˈɑːnə/ ree-ah-nə or /riˈænə/ ree-an-ə; born February 20, 1988), known mononymously as Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist and actress. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, her career began when she met record producer Evan Rogers in late 2003. At age 16, she came to the United States to pursue a recording career and began recording demo tapes under Rogers' guidance, subsequently signing a contract with Def Jam Recordings after auditioning for Jay-Z. Rihanna's debut studio album, Music of the Sun (2005), peaked at number ten on the Billboard 200 and features the Billboard Hot 100 top five hit single "Pon de Replay". Her second album, A Girl Like Me (2006), peaked at number five in the United States, and produced her first Hot 100 number one single, "SOS". Rihanna's third album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), spawned the international hit singles "Umbrella", "Don't Stop the Music", "Take a Bow", and "Disturbia". The album was nominated for nine Grammy Awards, winning Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Umbrella". Her fourth album, Rated R (2009), produced the top ten singles "Russian Roulette", "Hard", and "Rude Boy", with the latter achieving the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Rihanna's fifth album, Loud (2010), spawned the number one hit singles "Only Girl (In the World)", "What's My Name?", and "S&M". Her sixth album, Talk That Talk (2011), served the worldwide chart topper "We Found Love" and the top five single "Where Have You Been". Rihanna's seventh album, Unapologetic (2012), was preceded by the lead single "Diamonds", which became Rihanna's twelfth number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Rihanna's work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including five American Music Awards, eighteen Billboard Music Awards, two BRIT Awards and five Grammy Awards. She has achieved a total of twelve number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the youngest solo artist to achieve the feat. Billboard named Rihanna the Digital Songs Artist of the 2000s decade, and ranked her as the seventeenth overall artist of the same decade. As of 2012, Rihanna has sold more than 25 million albums and 60 million digital singles worldwide since the beginning of her career in 2005, which makes her one of the best selling artists of all time. Some of Rihanna's singles have earned their place on the list of best-selling singles worldwide. She is the highest-selling digital artist in US history, having sold 58 million singles as a lead artist as of 2012. Furthermore, she has also sold 8.7 million album units in the United States as of November 2012. In the United Kingdom, she has sold 20 million records as of 2012, of which, she has sold a combined singles sales tally as a lead artist of 11.4 million, being listed as the UK's second biggest selling female singles artist of all time. In June 2011, Forbes reported that Rihanna had earned $29 million between May 2010 and May 2011. The following year, the magazine ranked her as the fourth most powerful celebrity of 2012 with earnings of $53 million between May 2011 and May 2012. The same year, American magazine Time named Rihanna one of the most influential people in the world. Also in 2012, Billboard placed Rihanna at the top of their 'Top 100 Pop Songs Artists of 1992–2012' list, while she was named Germany's biggest selling digital singles artist of all time, with sales of four million.