It looks like Nicki Minaj was right in 2016 about who was taking over pop, because Ariana Grande is all over the charts.
In her 2016 song “Side to Side,” Ariana Grande featured Minaj, who added the famous line “I’m the queen of rap, young Ariana run pop.” Grande is doing just that.
In just the last few months, Grande has broken countless long-standing records and edged her name into pop music history.
As of Feb. 17, Grande holds the number one, two and three spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making her only the second artist to do this since The Beatles and the only female.
Most recently, Friday it was announced that the singer is the only artist in Spotify history to have singles at number one, two and three on the “fastest song to reach 100 million streams” chart.
Those songs include “7 rings,” which reached 100 million streams in nine days, break up anthem “thank u, next,” which achieved the feat in 11 days and her newest single “break up with your girlfriend, I’m bored,” which accumulated its streams in 14 days.
All these singles come off of Grande’s newest album “thank u, next,” which she released on Feb. 8, only a few months after the release of her previous album “Sweetener,” which debuted last August.
The accolades for her new album only seem to increase. A Headline Planetarticle projects “thank u, next,” which beat out Ed Sheeran’s “Divide” for single-week U.S. audio streams by a pop album, will likely top that record in its second week of release.
In the past, Grande has expressed immense gratitude to her fans for her many awards and recognitions in the sum of multiple heart, cloud and kiss emojis via Twitter. However, her recent historic accomplishments have rendered a new, albeit odd, response from the singer.
During her surprise appearance on the “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” when he listed her recent successes, Grande had a simple response: “I’m sorry.” She added that she will “go away soon” so people don’t have to listen to her anymore.
Although Grande may be downplaying her power in the pop industry, Billboard staffers took time to answer questions about why they feel the songstress has become the most relevant and talked-about artist in the past year.
In the piece, the staff writers discussed their favorite singles on the album and how it compares to her past discography, but the last question was the most poignant. When asked “Where do you think Ariana Grande currently ranks among the greatest pop stars of the ‘10s?” Lyndsey Havens had this to say about Grande: “Without a doubt, Ariana ranks at the top of her class of ‘10s pop stars, not only because she’s resuscitating the genre (cue “breathin”), but also because she’s igniting its revival,” she said.
In just the last few months, Grande has broken countless long-standing records and edged her name into pop music history.
