Mariah
Celine
Christina
Beyonce/Destiny's Child
Toni Braxton
Leona Lewis
Jennifer Hudson
En Vogue
Fantasia
Alicia Keys
Lady Gaga
Mary J. Blige
Aaliyah
Brandy
Monica
Jessie J
Fergie
Nicole Scherzinger
Lauryn Hill
Tamia
India Arie
Jordin Sparks
Ariana Grande
Rita Ora
Kelly Clarkson
Pink
Jessica Simpson
Jojo
Adele
Faith Evans
LeAnn Rimes
Kelly Price
Chrisette Michele
Melanie Fiona
Alexandra Burke
Deborah Cox
Beverly Knight
Tamar Braxton
K. Michelle
Keyshia Cole
Emeli Sande
Florence Welch
Demi Lovato
Shania Twain even named Whitney was one of her influences in her autobiography.

Almost every pop and R&B female vocalist of the past three decades has cited Whitney as either a major influence or as their top influence.

Whitney Houston created the modern pop/R&B diva: in vocal style, sound and image. Revitalized the power ballad, sang her uptempos just as virtuosically and they were all aping her and following in her footsteps. Even non-vocalists like:

Britney Spears
Rihanna
Jennifer Lopez
Ciara

Guys:
Robin Thicke
John Legend
Tevin Campbell
Lee Brice
Sam Smith
The 1975

Lemme stop here.
Next time, try being quiet and right instead of loud and wrong.

Whitney Houston by far
Donna
Janet

For reasons already explained.
Mariah for me seemed to lack that sort of impact. I mean she has 18 number ones or something and I know of about only 3/4 songs by her whereas Whitney I know most of her songs because I feel her impact was more, she paved the way to be a very big artist as a black female.

But don't get it twisted
Rihanna be Beyoncé might have not done anything that hasn't been done before but they have excelled at what they do and will definitely be remembered as icons that also defined a generation.

Out of those, Janet.

this.

Why is ATRL saying Whitney? All she did was put big vocals on generic ballads?

Impact has nothing to do with whether you know the artists songs or not. This is something ATRL continues to fail to understand. Impact is influence on future trends. Whitney set ZERO trends lbr. Janet, Mariah, Bey and Rih all set FAR more than her.

Whitney and Mariah.

Where tf is Tina Turner? The AUDACITY to leave her out..and the fact that not one single person here has mentioned her

btw it's hands down Whitney Houston,Tina Turner,Diana Ross, and Donna Summer/Janet Jackson to certain extent.

They all set the blueprints for Mariah/Bey/Rih/and basically any mainstream black artist...

mess@people voting Bey/Rih. Learn your history kids...

Diana and Donna.

Out of the options:
Bey
Whitney
Janet

Mariah, Beyonce and Janet as far as impact on the current/new generation.

It's not Rih or Bey that's for sure.
- But the fact that so many black female artists can be called influential with receipts to back it up highlights how their white counterparts pale in comparison.

Y'all forgetting Tina?

I think Diana, Tina, Aretha, Donna etc debuted more than 40 years ago though?

The educating in this thread.

Whitney and Janet.

And Diana Ross. Diana was so important to the perception of black musicians, she helped intergrate white and black audiences to her music. And her class and glamor was notable, as before blacks were portrayed as lowly and uncouth. There's a reason why she's the diva. And from the 60s-80s she was one the biggest female artists in the world.

So many girls especially black girls looked up to her, and saw how she helped made black look good and not fall into the negative light that society made it.

Mariah.

Mariah
Beyoncé
Janet
Whitney

Queens Mariah & Whitney