P!nk

A double-platinum R&B debut, and she blew it up on purpose. LaFace Records had packaged her as a mainstream R&B act with Can't Take Me Home, but she hated the lane. She fought for creative control, linked up with Linda Perry, and M!ssundaztood landed three singles in the Billboard top 10. 'Get the Party Started' was the hit. Torching the formula that worked was the point.

'Lady Marmalade' hit #1 in 13 countries the same year and won her first Grammy. Her collaborators, Aguilera, Mya, and Lil' Kim, reportedly couldn't stand each other on set, which is about right for someone who'd just torched her own formula.

A Cher concert in 2004 is what started the aerial silks. She'd trained as a gymnast from age 4, picked up the act, and turned her live show into something you can't replicate on a screen. Her 2010 Grammy performance of 'Glitter in the Air' went viral.

Nine albums across 23 years, and she's still debuting at #1. Trustfall topped Billboard's Top Album Sales in 2023, and the Summer Carnival Tour grossed $584.7 million from 4.8 million tickets. The acrobatics aren't a gimmick. They're the reason she fills stadiums while plenty of her 2000s peers have downsized to theaters.

The first backflip on a 250cc motorcycle is a strange resume line for a pop star's husband, but it tracks. She met Carey Hart at the 2001 X Games, married him in Costa Rica, separated in 2008, wrote So What about it (her first solo #1), and got back together the following year. She's described marriage as "awful, wonderful, comfort and rage" and credits their therapist with keeping the whole thing intact.

Nothing stays private. She released Irrelevant after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and partnered with PEN America to give away 2,000 banned books at her Florida concerts. The feelings are always on the record.