SINGERS from Barbados

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Barbadian Singers of all time. This list of famous Barbadian Singers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Rihanna (1988 - )

With an HPI of 66.19, Rihanna is the most famous Barbadian Singer.  Her biography has been translated into 124 different languages on wikipedia.

Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ree-AN-ə; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, actress, and songwriter. She is widely regarded as one of the most prominent recording artists of the 21st century. Rihanna signed with Def Jam Recordings in 2005 and found mainstream recognition following the release of her first two studio albums, Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl Like Me (2006). Both influenced by Caribbean music, the albums quickly earned commercial success and peaked within the top ten on the US Billboard 200 chart. Her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), incorporated elements of dance-pop, and established her status as a prominent music industry icon. Its lead single, "Umbrella" (featuring Jay-Z) peaked atop the US Billboard Hot 100 (among 16 other countries), won her first Grammy Award from three nominations, and remains one of the best-selling singles of all time. Rihanna continued to blend pop, dance, and R&B influences on her next albums, Rated R (2009), Loud (2010), Talk That Talk (2011), and Unapologetic (2012)—the latter of which peaked the Billboard 200. The albums spawned the Billboard Hot 100-number one singles "Rude Boy", "Only Girl (In the World)", "What's My Name?", "S&M", "We Found Love", and "Diamonds". Her eighth album, Anti (2016), showcased new creative control following her departure from Def Jam in favor of Jay-Z's label, Roc Nation. Becoming her second US number one album, it was supported by the chart-topping single "Work". Throughout her career, Rihanna has worked with artists including Coldplay, Drake, Eminem, Kanye West, Ne-Yo, and Shakira. With sales of over 250 million records worldwide, Rihanna is the second-best-selling female music artist of all time and the highest-certified female artist of all time on the RIAA's Top Artists (Digital Singles) ranking. She has achieved 14 number-one singles, 32 top-ten singles in the US, and 31 top-ten entries in the UK. Her accolades include nine Grammy Awards, 13 American Music Awards (including the Icon Award), 12 Billboard Music Awards, six Guinness World Records, the NAACP's President's Award, and an Academy Award nomination. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2018. Forbes ranked her among the top ten highest-paid celebrities in 2012 and 2014. As of 2024, she is the wealthiest female musical artist with an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion. Aside from music, Rihanna is recognized for her humanitarian involvement, entrepreneurship, and fashion industry influence. She established the Clara Lionel Foundation, cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty, and fashion house Fenty under LVMH, becoming the first black woman to lead a luxury brand for LVMH. Rihanna has acted in major roles in Battleship (2012), Home (2015), Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), and Ocean's 8 (2018). In 2018, she was appointed as an ambassador by the Government of Barbados and declared a National Hero of Barbados in 2021.

2. Shontelle (1985 - )

With an HPI of 32.82, Shontelle is the 2nd most famous Barbadian Singer.  Her biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Shontelle Delia Layne (born 4 October 1985), known mononymously as Shontelle, is a Barbadian singer and songwriter. She released her debut album Shontelligence in 2008. Her second album, No Gravity, was released in 2010. Her singles "T-Shirt" and "Impossible" achieved international success. In 2020, Shontelle released "Remember Me".