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This post has since been updated with Beyonces latest album,Cowboy Carter.
The past decade ofBeyoncehas been marked by a series of pop-music paradigm shifts.
1 in the United States.
But it all starts with the music: Without those No.
1 albums, theres no foundation to build her empire, no platform to project herlarger-than-life persona.
What is it, exactly, that makes Beyonce such a big deal?
To start, she makes music that has the potential to make you feel powerful.
For this ranking, we considered the factors that made Beyonce Knowles into the singular Beyonce, the icon.
We rewarded her risks and penalized her hedged bets.
Generic ballads and love songs rated poorly; strong expressions of self-actualization and confidence were considered favorable.
Theres a good chance youll disagree!
9.I Am … Sasha Fierce(2008)
9.
Its not her best work, but it empowered her to make the records that would be.
8.Dangerously in Love(2003)
8.
7.4(2011)
7.
As an album, it doesnt quite work.
6.BDay(2006)
6.
OnBDay, Beyonce arranged, co-wrote, and co-produced every song for the first time.
5.Homecoming(2019)
5.
Few artists consider legacy on the same level of care and intention as Queen Bey.
Du Bois, and Toni Morrison.
With all of us.
4.Cowboy Carter(2024)
4.
This aint a country album, Beyonce explained in a statement introducingCowboy Carter.This is a Beyonce album.
So in typical Bey fashion, she makes her own space.
Sprawling and unwieldy,Cowboy Carteroften threatens to lose the plot.
3.Renaissance(2022)
3.
It will likely require the completion of her thus-far-unexplained (and potentially horse-related?)
Its only this low in the ranking because of the meteoric impact of the two records that follow.
2.Beyonce(2013)
2.
And, possibly, being Beyonce.
An overtly feminist text,Beyoncetakes the singers feminism beyond mere capitalist girlbossing.
The latter track includes a recording of her famous loss onStar Search, among her lifes most formative experiences.
1.Lemonade(2016)
1.
The shine didnt last long.
Building on the sonic explorations from the self-titled LP,Lemonadefirmly establishes her range as a post-genre pop star.
Hold Up is a tour de force.
He might not deserve her, but these hoes are trifling, and she deserves her marriage.
