Mariah Carey Declared Queen of Pop

Time magazine has compiled a new pop list titled, ‘The Ultimate Ranking of Pop Stardom‘. The ranking was determined by numbers straight from the Billboard archives:

TIME went through every song that reached the top ten of the Billboard 100 back to 1960 to see which artists had both the biggest years and longest careers. We assigned points based on a song’s rank for each week it was in the top ten. Artists who collaborated on songs are both given credit for its success. Artists were chosen for this list based on all-time chart performance and contemporary significance.

Points are awarded by placement in the Top Ten, from ten points for a number-one hit to one point for a number-10 song. All artists listed by name on a track are given full points for its chart performance, but groups with members who later had solo careers are still counted as separate entities.

There are two rankings ‘By Hits’ and ‘By Debut’. ‘By Hits’ Mariah Carey trumps all. Since her debut on Billboard in 1990 her largest ranking came in 1995, Daydream, and then a decade later in 2005, The Emancipation of Mimi. Although she’s recently released an album, her charting stops in 2008. Ranking two through ten, in order: Rihanna, Usher, The Beatles, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Katy Perry, and Boyz II Men. No surprise that Rihanna‘s most successful album to date is Good Girl Gone Bad and for Usher it’s Confessions. The Beatles most successful compilation was 1964s, A Hard Day’s Night and Madonna‘s was True Blue. Janet Jackson‘s highest charting was The Velvet Rope and Whitney Houston‘s greatest was 1998’s (charted in ’99), My Love Is Your Love.  Michael Jackson‘s solo career charting began in 1971 and his greatest year was over a decade later in 1983 with the prolific success of Thriller. In at #9 is Katy Perry. In the five year span of her charted career her biggest success was Teenage Dream. Boyz II Men rounded off the top 10 and their highest selling album was II. 

‘By Debut’ Bruno Mars ranks #1 with Doo-Wops & Hooligans trumping his other two projects. Ranking two through ten, in order: Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Maroon 5, Rihanna, T-Pain, Chris Brown, and Kanye West. Lady Gaga‘s greatest success was The Fame Monster and Taylor’s Swift‘s was RED. Miley Cyrus‘ greatest success thus far has been her latest album, Bangerz and Maroon 5‘s was Overexposed. T-Pain‘s biggest year was 2007 with success of collabs with Kanye West, Chris Brown, Baby Bash, Flo Rida, Plies, and his solo work Epiphany. Chris Brown‘s greatest success was Exclusive and Kanye‘s was 2011 with success of ‘E.T.’ and ‘N***as in Paris’.

 

To see the full ranking, CLICK HERE.

This Week In Music (V.5): Beyoncé x Rihanna x Ciara Photo-Op’s

A music artist becomes an artist when they go above and beyond sticking strictly to music and taking on other challenges in their career. They are able to live outside of music and take on film, TV, fans, press, and fashion. They are able to become icons outside of what they became famous for. They are able to give a bit of themselves for the fans and be recognized for achievements.

This week I feature 3 artists from 3 different yet parallel (as far as genre) realms that have taken to the pages & covers of Time, Vogue, and W magazines.

There was no surprise that Beyoncé was chosen to cover Time magazines ‘100 Most Influential People‘ issue. She sure has paved the way for a lot of current artists and always gives respect and admiration to those who’ve paved the way for her. This list set a new record with 41, almost half, of the list being women. As for music artists Pharrell, Miley Cyrus, Carrie Underwood made the list. 

In a short video Beyoncé explained who is the most influential in her life:

“I feel like my mother and my daughter have probably been the most influential [in my life] and being a mother, and becoming a mother, and looking at my daughter in her eyes, made me into a woman and made me very, very strong.”

To go along with the buzz of her track ‘Pretty Hurts’ video, Beyoncé has launched a #WhatIsPretty campaign that allows girls to upload a video/photo to Instagram plus the hashtag and explaining what the word means to them.

On gracing the cover of the Time she stated:

“Shooting for Time magazine was definitely one of the goals in my life. It’s something very important to me as an artist because it’s not about fashion or beauty, it’s about the influence I’ve had on our culture and to be among the other influential people is a huge honor for me.”

Well deserving of Beyoncé to be recognized for her work in and out of the studio along with her infectious presence among her fans. 

Next up, Rihanna. She is no stranger to gracing the cover of countless magazines nationally and internationally with her effortless style. When it comes to fashion and setting trends Rihanna is no holds barred in that area and has plenty of women admiring her style and confidence. She takes to the cover of Vogue Brazil’s new issue. Check out more photos from her shoot below:

CIara is close to delivering her baby boy with her fiancé, Future, and W magazine did a great shoot on her and her changes in life with her 1st child on the way. Here’s what she said on how she plains to raise her son:

“It’s a really hard world,” she says. But, she’s quick to add, “If that’s what their heart yearns for, then I’m down. I believe in allowing your child to be who they want to be—as long as they want to be something great.”

As she awaits her baby boy she’s planning her wedding and supporting her fiancé who just released his new album, Honest. Be sure to check out his track ‘I Won’ with her bestie Kim K.’s fiancé, Kanye West. Read her full interview here and check out more photos from her shoot below:

Motivational Monday (V.1): ‘Commitment’

I meant to post this earlier, but I was in a tad bit of a rush this morning. As I sit here at job #2 (babysitting) I have a little bit of time on my hands. My message for today revolves around what the title says, commitment. I’ve been finding a lot of great quotes via instagram and this one stood out to me.

Commitment is that turning point in your life when you seize the moment and convert it into an opportunity to to alter your destiny.

 Denis Waitley

Commitment is something that is essential in life and with the new year in full swing its easy to lose sight of the goals that you set for the new year. It might only last for a month, two, maybe three. How long do you stay committed to eating right? How many times do you keep telling yourself you’ll go to the gym? How many times do you tell your self that you’ll organize a room in your house? The list can go on and on. It all ends up in procrastination and pushing it off for the next day.

Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today

Murphy’s Law

What is the point in setting goals when you aren’t going to commit? I am guilty of this a lot and that is one thing I want to work on. When it came to writing this post I was like eh, I don’t feel like it. No one will care, I’ll do it tomorrow. It’s not about someone caring. I don’t care anymore if anyone were to do this. I said I was going to blog every day and admitted to missing one day, but I want to become committed to this. Whatever you put your name on should be done with 100%. Give everything you do your all. It’s time to stop putting in half of your time on something you signed up to do. Even if you’re not happy where you’re at, be it your job, you signed up for that so until you find something new, or make something new, give it your all.

I was thinking about how much I dread Monday mornings and I came across this quote:

Having a rough morning? Place your hand over your heart. Feel that? That’s called purpose. You’re alive for a reason. Don’t give up.

You might not know what your purpose is, but in due time you will. It’s time to be persistent, stop the procrastination and fully commit to becoming a better you. It’s a daily journey for myself and this blog is helping me embark on that journey. Don’t put yourself in situations that you might want to back out of. If you’re in it be in it. No other way around it.

Until next time…