Everyone today has more flops than artists from the 1980s lol, you're neglecting the Hot 100 works so differently now.
Mariah, Madonna, Janet, Whitney, etc had crazy streaks where like their first 20 singles didn't flop. I'm sure labels could mess with the charts then more, which is why half of their hits were barely remembered next year (a single as irrelevant as Thank God I Found You could never skyrocket to #1 today lol).
Not to mention back then there was literally 30+ #1s per year, most #1's spent 1-2 weeks #1, and there was also like triple more Top 10s. Charting higher then was much easier in a literal statistical aspect which makes Rihanna's amount of Top 10s and #1's very impressive.
I agree with this to an extent.
I think it's important to look at which category each artist is in, too.
Like Taylor's hit/flop ratio is fab in comparison to Rihanna, but Taylor made/makes Country/Pop music, while Rih was/is a Pop/Urban artist, so the comparison is kinda forced.
I do think Rih is two eras away from topping Madonna. Not yet, tho.
Don't extrapolate Mariah's shady 49 cent discount #1s to other artists PLENTY of acts had flop singles back then, Madonna is the highest selling female artist and Queen of Pop for a reason. Her hits were huge, hence The Immaculate Collection being the highest selling female compilation album ever.
And where'd I say she didn't have big hits?
I said bringing up Rihanna's had more flop singles is pointless when like every single artist today has more flops compared to the 1980s when every little thing went Top 10.
MJ for example had #1's from Bad that didn't make Top 50 on the Year End. I'm sure many artists star power helped them a lot back then with having good peaks for a few weeks when the charts didn't rely on actual real data, but instead on what industry radio executives and store managers claimed was popular. It's a realistic view.
Don't extrapolate Mariah's shady 49 cent discount #1s to other artists PLENTY of acts had flop singles back then, Madonna is the highest selling female artist and Queen of Pop for a reason. The chart turnover was faster but her hits were huge, hence The Immaculate Collection being the highest selling female compilation album ever.
Okay but Madonma has shady #1s too like TUTBMPG and WTG
Statistically, yes, Rihanna's hits are more impressive, but they also come from a billion features (on both her songs and her on others' tracks) and endless writing camps. I could argue that Madonna's own role in crafting her hits makes her much more deserving of the title "biggest female hitmaker ever".
If Rihanna keeps it up for another decade then yes, she will surpass her, especially because Rihanna's hits are also very global.
Okay but Madonma has shady #1s too like TUTBMPG and WTG
Both of those were big global smashes, unlike Mariah's local #1s Who's That Girl was a huge 80s smash, it's forgotten but it was big at the time. It was her first post-True Blue single.
Did we forget that Madge's first two singles didn't even chart and Holiday didn't even enter the top ten, it took four singles to finally get a hit with the godly Borderline.. Dear Jessie didn't chart and Oh Father wasn't a top 10 ...
Also when looking at Year-End charts you have to realize that albums back then by MJ/Madonna were selling 8-10m copies like nothing, so that affected how many people were buying the singles and their chart positions. Rihanna barely sells any albums.
She's both. The hit maker of this generation and on track to being the biggest female hit maker ever.
Compare Madonna's amount of hits at 28 years old or 11 years into her career to Rihanna's lol. And Rihanna really isn't fading from getting hits anytime soon, if she could get multiple smashes during this messy era for her career then really nothing is holding her back.
What's her 2nd smash from Anti, that song that peaked at #17 in sales?
Did we forget that Madge's first two singles didn't even chart and Holiday didn't even enter the top ten, it took four singles to finally get a hit with the godly Borderline.. Dear Jessie didn't chart and Oh Father wasn't a top 10 ...
Did we forget that Madge's first two singles didn't even chart and Holiday didn't even enter the top ten, it took four singles to finally get a hit with the godly Borderline.. Dear Jessie didn't chart and Oh Father wasn't a top 10 ...
Yeah, and after she took off she never came back down. Borderline was selected as one of the definitive recordings of the 20th century by Time Magazine and is very acclaimed by critics so Dear Jessie wasn't a single in America (you're looking at her Wikipedia page arent you?) and Oh Father peaked at #20 for what was a very artistic, non-radio friendly single, still a moderate success.
Both of those were big global smashes, unlike Mariah's local #1s Who's That Girl was a huge 80s smash, it's forgotten but it was big at the time. It was her first post-True Blue single.
Well I guess WTG went off momentum but TUTBMPG is beyond forgotten, even TGIFY is more remembered
Did we forget that Madge's first two singles didn't even chart and Holiday didn't even enter the top ten, it took four singles to finally get a hit with the godly Borderline.. Dear Jessie didn't chart and Oh Father wasn't a top 10 ...
Dear Jessie wasn't a single in the US, and even so, you're acting like Rih doesn't have stuff like California King Bed, Man Down, etc.
Did we forget that Madge's first two singles didn't even chart and Holiday didn't even enter the top ten, it took four singles to finally get a hit with the godly Borderline.. Dear Jessie didn't chart and Oh Father wasn't a top 10 ...
Dear Jessie wasn't a single in the US, and even so, you're acting like Rih doesn't have stuff like California King Bed, Man Down, etc.
I misread about Dear Jessie but I was just clearly telling Bruce that it took Madge four tries to finally get a hit,because he was saying she didn't flop until Erotica ..
I misread about Dear Jessie but I was just clearly telling Bruce that it took Madge four tries to finally get a hit ..
It took her three tries, Holiday was a hit and is super remembered, it gets so much recurrent airplay
And Madonna's first album barely got any promo, just cheap music videos the fact that it sold so much and peaked as high as it did is amazing
PLENTY of acts had flop singles back then, Madonna is the highest selling female artist and Queen of Pop for a reason. Her hits were huge, hence The Immaculate Collection being the highest selling female compilation album ever.
Who's That Girl was a huge 80s smash, it's forgotten but it was big at the time. It was her first post-True Blue single.