Two queens of the music industry. Both Rihanna and Beyoncé are famed for number one hits worldwide, both hailed for their sellout music tours, multi-plat albums, and adoring fans who can’t get enough. However, the question remains; who is most popular?
Going by worldwide record sales and who had made and sold the most, then the crowd for the most popular queen of pop goes to Rihanna. While this may surprise you, Beyoncé, who started her career back in 2003, has sold 100 million records worldwide, whereas Rihanna sold an incredible 250 million!
But, record sales aren’t the only stats you can judge this by. Read on to find out more about who fans love most, who is the most successful artist of the two, and all the different ways we can answer this question.
Dominating the Music Scene
Both Rihanna and Beyoncé found their fame in the music industry, and it’s no secret that they have both found huge success throughout their careers. Since Beyoncé started her career back in 2003 and had massive success with her previous girl band Destiny’s Child, you’d be forgiven for believing she would be queen, but this isn’t the case.
In fact, Rihanna is number nine out of the top ten artists of all time who have managed to sell over 250 million records (with total available record sales coming in around 283 million as of Nov 2020). This put Rihanna up in the top 1% with names like Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Elton John, and Pink Floyd.
Beyoncé hits around the 99.2 million mark at the same time, which is still a truly impressive feat, and put her as another one of the top 50 best-selling artists of all time (including her time in Destiny’s Child). However, that’s not to knock Beyoncé.
Both artists have had numerous number ones in countries worldwide, including the US, UK, Australia, Japan, and more, and have won numerous awards in every category for the music content they have written, recorded, and produced over the years.
It’s crazy to see all they have done over the last few decades.
Social Media Stat Attack
While an artist may have popular music, it’s not the only way to gauge how popular they are with the public. Sure, they may sell albums, but this isn’t all artists do, and they’ll regularly be working on other projects, sharing their opinions, or having an impact on the world with their reach, mainly thanks to social media.
For example, Beyoncé has over 156 million followers on Instagram, which is over 50 million more people than the number of records she’s sold!
On the other hand, Rihanna has a grand total of 87.5 million, which is nearly half of Beyoncé’s total!
Taking a look at the pages, it seems as though both artists post relatively the same kind of content, including brand endorsements, BLM-related posts, selfies, holiday pics, and promotional content for their albums and content. Rihanna, for example, posts a lot of content promoting her make-up brand, Fenty, a page with over 10 million followers itself.
Taking all these into consideration, it seems as though Beyoncé may be more popular when it comes to social media and connecting with her fans on a more regular, daily basis. As a final fact, did you know that if you want Beyoncé to endorse your product or brand on social media, it’s going to cost you around $1 million on its own? Wow!
Rihanna Queen of Charts. Beyoncé Queen of Critics
When it comes down to it, there’s no true decided winner out of who is more popular between Rihanna and Beyoncé. Rihanna has record-breaking album and track sales that are some of the highest figures in human history, which just goes to show how much fans love her music.
Alternatively, Beyoncé is more loved by her fans, with people feeling a much deeper connection to her, her way of life, and who she is. For example, Beyoncé played roles in adored movies like Charlie’s Angels. Rihanna has appeared in some movies, such as Battleship, but these movies are not as loved by fans or critics alike.
Interestingly, people have been asking this question of who is more popular out of Beyoncé and Rihanna for years. Even back in 2011, music magazine, Rolling Stone published an article on this exact topic. They spoke about how the music scene was changing with streaming and downloading and how both artists would cope in this new world.
And the end of the day, we can’t deny that both Rihanna and Beyoncé are queens in their own right and that they are both the most popular in their own right. No matter which team you’re on, I’m sure we can all agree that we’re excited to see what both these impressive artists will do next.