Aside from sales and charts the only tangible measure of success aside from sales/charts would be recognition, IMO -- acclaim/awards. Looking at other things such as musical innovation, impact and influence and cultural impact, the legends of course have that on lock -- Madonna, Whitney, Janet, Mariah.
Out of the current pop girls, it's Bey by a long shot.
17 Grammys, 24 Billboard Awards, 10 AMAs, 14 VMAs and special career achievements and legacy honors including AMA International Artist Award, Billboard Artist of the Millennium, female Artist of the 2000s Decade and Hot 100 Artist of the Decade, WMA Legend Award.
As far as impact/legacy and influence:
Bey also has one of the most acclaimed pop songs of all time, Crazy in Love which is one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. She also has her self titled album which is one of the highest reviewed albums of any mainstream pop girl, ever.
- Rolling Stone on Beyoncé's unique vocal style starting with Destiny's Child and its impact on R&B vocals:
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The definitive kiss-off song won two Grammys and featured a standout performance by Beyoncé, whose skittering, rhythmic, and hip-hop-derived approach to melody would help shift the entire landscape of R&B singing.
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- Complex Music on the Beyoncé effect on R&B vocals:
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By 2004, established female R&B artists were suffering... There was a shift. Female R&B artists were expected to be voracious vocalists with ranges that would give those listening goose bumps. That shift was Beyoncé. No matter the differentiations and nuances among the pool of singers, after her 2003 solo debut, the paradigm shifted. ... The angelic vocal thinness that was predominant in contemporary R&B for the decade before had waned.
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