What was the biggest year any individual artist had this century so far?

2023, Taylor Alison Swift 

Taylor 2023, but 25's release felt bigger than Taylor's 2023, but it doesn't necessarily count as Taylor has dominated the entire year

 

Adele also obliterated the competition she had that year, whereas Taylor's streams aren't that much bigger than SZA's SOS

Edited December 31, 20232 yr by Saintlor

I feel like 09-10 with Gaga was the highest any artist has achieved this century for sure. The entire world was talking about her and galvanized by her. 
 

The only girls that come close are Adele in 11, Taylor this year, and Beyonce in 16. I think all 4 ladies were bigger than their respective albums at the times, and they truly all felt like they dominated those years, I just feel the heights Gaga reached eclipsed the rest. 

Xtina 2010 

Culturally Lady Gaga 2009-2011, BB200 + Tour+ social impact Taylor Swift, Hot 100 2010-2012 Katy Perry.

Rihanna has had enormous longevity just like Adele with the huge era 21 but when it comes to peak I find it difficult to include them (the only two options are Loud and first week of 25). 

 

Taylor’s 2023.

 

From the historic tour, the massive concert movie, her domination on streaming and sales, her literally having half a dozen smash albums simultaneously, her cultural ubiquity… and all of that leading to her becoming  TIME’s first entertainer to be named POTY since 1927, Taylor really smashed in every possible way imaginable. Add the fact that she did all of this as an already established icon of 15+ years, and Taylor’s 2023 is really the type of artist peak we’ve never seen, at the very least in this century. 

14 minutes ago, Saintlor said:

Taylor 2023, but 25's release felt bigger than Taylor's 2023, but it doesn't necessarily count as Taylor has dominated the entire year

 

Adele also obliterated the competition she had that year, whereas Taylor's streams aren't that much bigger than SZA's SOS

The difference here is that Taylor’s success this year wasn’t concentrated in a single album. Midnights alone didn’t do intensely better than other big albums like SOS this year (at least in streams specifically), but Taylor as an artist overall was so much bigger than anything else happening this year that she made up record-setting proportions of the entire industry’s revenue and consumption, on top of the biggest tour of all time with just her first NA leg and a short South American leg. 25’s release was of course a massive individual moment (though I’d be curious to see if 1989 TV comes close to it proportionally when considering changes to the music market since 2015), but Adele’s 2015/2016, while huge, don’t match Taylor’s 2023 even if combined. And that’s not a dig at Adele, to be clear, as what she did then was incredibly impressive - it just illustrates the astronomical heights Taylor reached this year. If evaluated as an artist in full and accounting for her entire discography, Taylor was running laps around the entire industry all year. And this is without even mentioning the movie, the POTY thing, her radio resurgence, and more!

In reality its Eminem (2002) and thats not up for debate.

 

He released The Eminem Show which is his best selling album (over 22M sold WW, diamond in the US), 8 Mile was a box office hit (grossed almost 300M), the soundtrack for the movie also sold about 15M copies and it spawned Eminem's biggest hit, Lose Yourself, which is also arguably the biggest song of the 2000s decade.

3 minutes ago, Jooj said:

In reality its Eminem (2002) and thats not up for debate.

 

He released The Eminem Show which is his best selling album (over 22M sold WW, diamond in the US), 8 Mile was a box office hit (grossed almost 300M), the soundtrack for the movie also sold about 15M copies and it spawned Eminem's biggest hit, Lose Yourself, which is also arguably the biggest song of the 2000s decade.

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Bad bunny’s 2022

The answer is really obvious. No amount of bitterness will change that

 

1- Taylor 2023

2- Adele 2015

3- Britney 2000

4- Gaga 2009

5- Beyonce 2013

Adele 2011, 2012, and 2015. 
 

Going diamond twice in a row, and shattering first week sales is insane. This was also at a point of low album sales, and streaming didn’t fully take off yet. In those years Adele was credited with saving the music industry. 

Adele 2012 or ABBA 2021 or Beatles 2000

1. Adele - 2011

2. Eminem - 2002

3. Britney - 2000

4. Lady Gaga - 2009

5. Taylor Swift - 2014

Honorable mention to Norah Jones and Mariah Carey.

55 minutes ago, Saintlor said:

Taylor 2023, but 25's release felt bigger than Taylor's 2023, but it doesn't necessarily count as Taylor has dominated the entire year

 

Adele also obliterated the competition she had that year, whereas Taylor's streams aren't that much bigger than SZA's SOS

Adele didn't sell 45-50M units in 2015.

 

Obviously Taylor.

Realistically it’s definitely Taylor in 2023. If we were talking about single current eras rather than cumulative success from past eras maybe it would be Adele or Gaga or something but the OP doesn’t specify that

 

Taylor has occupied like half of the top 10 albums for most of the past year  plus the biggest tour of all time with massive crowds forming outside stadiums. She’s everywhere, every brand is clamoring to use her to advertise their products. We haven’t seen anything like it from a pop star this century

 

Im not even a big fan and honestly she’s so omnipresent in the culture that it’s kinda annoying but we can’t deny it

Edited December 31, 20232 yr by Orsay

12 minutes ago, Eternium said:

1. Adele - 2011

2. Eminem - 2002

3. Britney - 2000

4. Lady Gaga - 2009

5. Taylor Swift - 2014

Honorable mention to Norah Jones and Mariah Carey.

You're so out of touch, I don't know if that's funny or sad to see  

2023 Taylor is the biggest year in music for an artist ever. 

1. Taylor 2023

2. Adele 2011

3. Eminem 2002

4. Gaga 2009 

5.  Ed 2017 / Drake 2018 

 

13 minutes ago, Squall said:

You're so out of touch, I don't know if that's funny or sad to see  

Leaving your device streaming on headphones all day is never going to be the same as buying an album. Stop posting about streaming fraud if you want us to take those numbers seriously.

Just now, Eternium said:

Leaving your device streaming on headphones all day is never going to be the same as buying an album. Stop posting about streaming fraud if you want us to take those numbers seriously.

You have just reached a new low of delusion, using a fan faking streams as "receipt" to downplay 45-50M units...  

First: Taylor Swift 2023.

Second: Taylor Swift 2014.

Third: Adele 2011.

Fourth: Katy Perry 2010.

Fifth: Mariah Carey 2005.

 

Taylor Swift 2023 is undeniable

 

- Biggest tour ever

- Biggest streaming year ever

- Three #1 hits

- Three #1 albums

- Time Person Of the Year

- Broke records of the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Barbra Streisand

- Highest peak of monthly listeners

- Highest first week in her career

- + much much more