I see posts saying that Rihanna was catapulted to success by the unfortunate 2009 assault, some even going as far as saying that Chris is responsible for the success, yet, Rihanna had sold over 13M albums before the incident happened and has obviously been serving hit after hit after hit. Why then would someone think that a traumatizing and disgusting incident that Rihanna went through a reason for the success she has amassed over the years?

Because haters will make up any reason to try to discredit the pop girl that they hate on.

Chris' impact! no pun intended.

Because ATRL look for any reason to discredit her, her achievments & success. & it does not matter to them how stupid, false or deluded that reason is.

really??
why even? this isn't even funny?

It's ridiculous, tbh.

Was she successful before? Yes. Did she have any iconic moment prior to that incident? No.

Because it's a dumb as **** excuse trying to diminish her success

No but for real, I think the incident made more people know her but I don't think as a whole her success is attributed to Chris.

could you please explain how?
Rihanna had sold 8 million with GGGB before the incident, and if Chris really did bring about her success, why can't he do the same for himself?

She was everywhere during GGGB and even before then I remember SOS and Unfaithful being huge. I guess they just aren't as remembered.

could you please explain how?
Rihanna had sold over 8 million with GGGB before the incident, and if Chris really did bring about her success, why can't he do the same for himself?

Is that why Rated R, the album influenced by the degenerate, is her lowest selling excluding her first? I mean I know you're extremely delusional & stupid but surely you must know what numbers are high and what are low. Anyway, its only on ATRL you hear this pathetic excuse.

Its just like the ones that try to claim that rihanna's 13 #1s record isnt that impressive because she has some features, and then go even further to claim that we found love isnt rihannas song.

its not like rihanna got her first #1 with rated r after the domestic violence case, she had 4 #1 hits and almost 10 top 10 hits prior to feb 2009.

She rose during GGBB

Her success is entirely her own, but you can't deny that incident pushed her into the limelight more than she had ever been before. If you look at Google trends, her peak is around the time that incident happened. It's what made everyone look at her as a real human being as opposed to some sort of robotic popstar.