5 Iconic Music Artists Who Made Waves in This Millennium
Jun 21, 2022, 15:16 IST
By Devraj Bollareddy
In honor of World Music Day, let’s take a look at western artists that shaped music this century. There
are two types of artists, there are artists who are trendsetters and then there are artists that seize the
opportunity and jump on the bandwagon. Today, let’s take a look at the first type, artists that set the
trends and created a huge impact on the music industry.
1. Taylor swift
Although Taylor Swift released her debut single only 16 years ago, she has created
a huge impact in the industry. As the only female artist in history to win album of
the years at the Grammys thrice, there is no denying her power and influence in
the industry. She made headlines in 2019 when she announced that she will be
re-recording her first six albums, she has constantly strived for artists’ rights when
it comes to owning the music that they make. This led many budding artists such
as Olivia Rodrigo to work out deals with their labels that ensured that artists own
their music. Billboard even regarded Taylor Swift as the most successful artist to
debut this century. Despite being an artists that thrives off of physical sales, she
successfully transitioned out of the digital era into the streaming era and is on
track to becoming the most streamed woman on Spotify.
2. Beyonce
Beyonce has changed the music industry in a lot of ways; but nothing was as
monumental as when she surprised released her self-titled album which changed
the way artists release their music. She proved that albums that are released
without any warning or promotion can also do really well, in fact her album was
the fastest selling album on iTunes at the time. Her music heavily revolves around
themes of feminism and she uses her platform to promote inclusivity and
showcase intersectionality and re-defined what it means to be an African-
American music artist.
3. Drake
Before Drake rose to prominence, rappers were not put on the same pedestal as
singers. He has been famously credited for making hip-hop more prominent in a
pop music dominated industry. He is commonly regarded as the king of streaming
with many Spotify records under his belt, including most debut day streams for an
album in Spotify history. He always supported his fellow artists and helped many
budding artists make it big. He drove the genre away from rigid album release
cycles and was a trendsetter in the hip-hop industry in many ways shapes and
forms.
4. Rihanna
Rihanna is more than just a chart-topper or a business mogul. Rihanna started the
trend of pop stars collaborating with DJ’s on tracks which set the scene for the
2015-2016 EDM music trend that took over the music charts and radios. She
promoted confidence and body-positivity; she also encouraged and inspired many
black female artists to be more carefree and experimental with their music in a
way that the world has not seen since Whitney Houston or Janet Jackson in the
1980’s. When she took a break from music to start Fenty Beauty, she showed the
world that artists can also be successful entrepreneurs and leverage theit brand
to achieve success in other industry too. Since Fenty Beauty launched, many
artists followed in the same footsteps with Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Selena
Gomez all launching makeup lines recently.
5. Jay-Z
Jay-Z is commonly regarded as the most influential hip-hop artist of all time. He
made headlines when he became the CEO of Def-Jam, his music label and has
been an integral part of the commercial success behind big names in the industry
such as Kanye West, Rihanna and J Cole. He also made headlines when he
founded the streaming company Tidal and famously convinced artists such as
Madonna, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna to invest in it. He also became the first rapper
to be inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame.
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