Here's what's left from each era =

Music of the Sun - 0/2
A Girl Like Me - 2/4
Good Girl Gone Bad - 5/8
Rated R - 2/6
Loud - 4/6
Talk That Talk - 2/5
Unapologetic - 2/7
Anti - 2/4

Collaborations/Other 2/23



As we head into the top 20, we've still got 7 of Rihanna's eras still in the running. "Music of the Sun" is the only one whose lost all its singles, while "Good Girl Gone Bad" has the most songs left with 5, closely followed by "Loud" which has 4, but for how long?

Edited August 31, 20213 yr by Nina West

I feel so empty and hollow

20. Rehab | 7.923 Highest Scores: 11: (Adelita, HausofWillow), 10: (jakewild, PAJ, Mike Sugafan, Bjork, JackTheeStallion, kath), Lowest Scores: 5.5/5: (Cameron, JSG)


Kicking off the top 20 at the #20 spot is Rehab, released in October 2008 as the 8th & final single from Rihanna's 3rd studio album Good Girl Gone Bad. Development for the song began while Rihanna was accompanying Timbaland on Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow tour in 2007. Justin Timberlake wrote the song in collaboration with his producers, Hannon Lane and Timbaland, and provided additional vocals. The song is one of 3 tracks omposed and produced by Timbaland for the album, alongside "Sell Me Candy" & "Lemme Get That". Both "Rehag" & "Breakin' Dishes" were lined up as potential singles, before the former got ultimately chosen. Upon release the track got decent reviews & became a commercial success by reaching top 10 peaks in Austria, Germany, The Netherlands & Norway, as well as top 20 peaks in New Zealand, Switzerland, Denmark, UK, USA, Canada & France.

Now this was a very interesting single choice, especially during Rihanna's early days where she could have easily gone down the safe route & released the fan favourite "Breakin' Dishes" & score yet another smash hit (like many of suspected she would), but instead she takes a risk & brings out this rather dark yet mature mid-tempo R&B ballad & its a great song, thankfully the risk paid off as this performed rather well for an 8th single from an album that's already scored several hits, as well as being out for well over a year by this point. The mournfyl melody mixed with the heavy instrumentations sounds very slick against the polished production & Rihanna's alluring & yet almost monotone sounding vocals sounds great as she exhaustion and anguish of addiction to rise to the surface. Given the fact that she was only 19 when she recorded this, is only the more impressive & even at thsi early stage of her career, she can take creative control & pull off the emotions needed for a song like this.

I really like Rehab, it was such a nice change of pace at the time.

It's a twenty-two, I call her Peggy-Sue

19. Man Down | 7.98 Highest Scores: 11: (Dobbo, vibe), 10: (Nina West, jakewild, PAJ, HausofWillow, blacksquare), Lowest Scores: 1: (JSG)


At #19 is Man Down, released in May 2011 as the 5th single from Rihanna's 5th studio albim Loud. The song was written by singer Shontelle, production duo R City & Sham who was also the main producer. They wrote it during a writing camp, in L.A. held by Rihanna's record label to gather compositions for possible inclusion on the then-untitled album. The song was also inspired by Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff", but from a female perspective. The video was criticized by the Parents Television Council, Industry Ears and Mothers Against Violence, who faulted Rihanna for making murder an acceptable form of violence. However actress Gabrielle Union, a rape victim, praised the video for being relatable. Rihanna asked fans on Twitter on what the next single should be, after an influx of suggestions she narrowed down the options to 4 songs: including this "California King Bed", "Cheers (Drink to That)" & "Fading". "CKB" got chosen as the next international single, while this track was sent to rhythmic and urban radio stations in the USA & eventually became the album's 5th single. Upon release it got critical priase & was a commercial success in severl countries worldwide by topping the French charts & hit top 10 peaks in Netherlands, Italy & Switzerland, as well as top 20 peaks in Hungary, Norway, Lebanon & Czech Republic. However in both the UK & USA it scored minor peaks of #54 & #59 respectively due to its limited releases in each country (it was only released as a digital download in the former), but still managed to sell decent numbers in both countries.

This had a bit of a slow start during the first half of the rate, where at first it was ranking in the low top 30's, but thankfully its scores picked up & its now ranked in the top 20 & I'm very pleased with this result. This is one of those moments that should be remembered when Rihanna truly came into her own as an artist, where she lets her thick Bajan accent flow & deliever one of her strongest vocal performances to date, as it frames the emotions of the song beautifully. The Raggae beats infushed with Caribbean rhythms are note perfect & very authentic at capturing those classic Reggae sounds of the past. All of these layers holds up the urgency of the chorus as her accent becomes stronger & thicker as it becomes more confessional which climaxes during the bridge. Even the controversial music video heightens the cinematic story-telling wonderfully & to date stands as one of her very best videos of her career. This was an instant highlight for me upon the album's release & so glad it got picked as a single, as its one of her finest recordings ever.

Edited August 31, 20213 yr by Nina West

Man Down is incredible.

Man Down is fantastic, in fact Loud as an album is amazing.

Definitely been a massive grower for me over the years.

Ready for another entry

Not really sure how to feel about it

18. Stay (ft Mikky Ekko) | 7.98 Highest Scores: 11: (Jord, Chapman, Bjork, vibe), 10: (Nina West, jakewild, Tafty, Mack), Lowest Scores: -1: (Dobbo)


At the #18 spot is Stay, which scored the same as the previous entry, but placed higher due to it having more 11's. Released in January 2013 as the 2nd single from Rihanna's 7th studio album Unapologetic & features guest vocals by Mikky Ekko. The song was written by Mikky himself, Elof Loelv & Justin Parker. During the production of the album, several musicians and producers were recruited including Mikky Ekko & the song's co-writers & its production was massive with studios they were working in booked out for 3 months. Initially Ekko didn't like the song, because of its vulnerability, but the collaborators convinced him to listen to it again & then he understood that the song is very important to him. Shortly after Rihanna's management took over the song, & after both artists met after she already sang her vocals to the track, Mikky acted postively & both recorded their parts at seperate recording locations. Upon release it was positively recieved by critics & already charted on multiple charts worldwide, leading them no choice but to release it as the next single. Following its official release as a single the song was a huge commercial success by topping the charts in Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark & Isreal, as well as hitting top 5 peaks in 24 countries including Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, UK & USA where it reached a #3 peak, becoming her 24th top 10 hit there. Futhermore it went onto sell over 10 Million copies worldwide, making it one of the best selling singles of all-time. The following year it would gain a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Duo/Group Performance".

This may be one of Rihanna's most powerful ballads to date. With only a stark piano in the background & its sparseness allows her to show her full range, which moves from warm, crooning whisphers to soaring power notes with an all honest rawness to them, that breaks with emotions at just the right moments. Rihanna's completely unashamed in her honesty, pleading for her lover & its all the more effective for it. Even the then new-comer Mikky Ekko is the perfect partner on this with falsetto elevating the ballad’s tenderness. But it's Rihanna who clearly steals the show here who by this point is so in control of her technique & yet manages to stay vulnerable at the same time. It was quite risky to release 2 ballads as the first 2 singles, but this was & still is a fantastic track that everybody had to witness.

I’ve never really been the biggest fan of Stay. It just completely doesn’t click with me.

So glad Rehab finishes in top 20 :wub:

Man Down and Stay are incredible !!!

Stay is an absolute snoozefest, her worst song.

Stay is a gorgeous song :wub: a shake that it missed the top 15 though.

I think 'Stay' is alright, in context of the album it comes from it's amazing however.

White girl wasted on that brown liquor

17. Wild Thoughts (ft DJ Khaled & Bryson Tiller) | 8.0 Highest Scores 11: (jakewild), 10: (Nina West, Chapman, Nick F1, Cremey, HausofWillow, blacksquare), Lowest Scores: 4: (JSG, Bjork)


At #17 is Wild Thoughts, a song by DJ Khaled & features both Rihanna & Bryson Tiller. Released in June 2017 as the 3rd single from Khaled's 10th studio album Grateful. The song itself heavly samples the guitar riff from Santana's 1999 hit single "Maria Maria" as well as featuring the same groove and even featured Wyclef Jean's "murmuring" who supplied the original songs ad-libs. Canadian singer PartyNextDoor assisted the artists in writing the song, with production handled by Khaled. Carlos Santana praised the aritists take on the song, while The Product G&B (who originally sung the Maria Mara) track has a very mixed responce to it. Upon release the song was a massive commercial success by topping the UK charts, marking Khaled's 2nd & Rihanna's 9th chart topper there and would see success in several other countries by reaching top 5 peaks in 18 other countries, including in the USA where it reached a #2 peak, becoming Rihanna's 31st top 10 hit, Khaled's 3rd & Tiller's 1st.

Rihanna has long delivered on the sultry bops & this is no exception where not only does she make the melody her own, this also shows how grown & into her own as an artist as her low velvety vocals make intoxicating combination. Her presence here is not only aluring, but its sensual at the same time. The sample of "Maria Maria" works incredibly well on here as it flows with the production beautifully & gives it that summertime vibe. While DJ Khaled has great presence on the track, however I do feel tha Bryson Tiller gets lost amongst the stat power of the other 2 artsist, but he does bring some nice R&B vibes to the track. But it's clearly Rihanna who steals the show here & when you listen to the song, it's not hard to see why.

It's a good song, but waaaay too high.

The next entry will be a UK or USA chart topper, there's about 10 possible choices left, but which will it be?

 

 

I'll post another entry once this gets to another page :D

Edited September 1, 20213 yr by Nina West

I’ll guess Don’t Stop The Music or Disturbia will be out next.

I’ll guess Don’t Stop The Music or Disturbia will be out next.

 

 

'Don't Stop The Music' wasn't a chart topper in the UK or US, it reached #4 & #3 respectively.