Collectively, they've hauled in more than 50 GRAMMY Awards between them. Individually, each made a huge splash with their first musical impression — their debut studio album.
After her reign in Destiny's Child, Beyoncé set out on her own with 2003's Dangerously In Love. Her solo debut featured a "good balance of ... ballads and ... mid-tempos with just ridin'-in-your-car feels, to a lot of ... up-tempo club songs, to really sexy songs," as Bey put it. It spawned two No. 1 jams — "Crazy In Love" and "Baby Boy" — and earned the Texas native five GRAMMYs, including Best Contemporary R&B Album.
Spanning dancehall songs and R&B ballads, Rihanna struck gold, literally, with her debut, 2005's Music Of The Sun. The LP no doubt lit the fire for the Barbadian beauty's career, yielding the hits "Pon De Replay" and "If It's Lovin' That You Want" on its way to a No. 10 position on the Billboard 200. Music Of The Sun was certified gold by the RIAA, marking the first hint of RiRi's future sales dominance.
Released in 2006, Taylor Swift offered an impressive glimpse into the promising songcraft of one Taylor Alison Swift — and she was only 16 when she released it. The countryfied debut featured five big singles — each attaining RIAA platinum status by the RIAA — including "Tim McGraw," "Teardrops On My Guitar" and "Our Song." AllMusic labeled her a "talent to be reckoned [with]" — indeed, Swift earned her first GRAMMY nomination for Best New Artist at the 50th GRAMMY Awards.
Adele's career hit the ground running with the release of 19 in 2008. Blue-eyed soul hits such as "Chasing Pavements," "Hometown Glory" and "Make You Feel My Love" provided compelling testimony to Adele's powerful voice, which BBC Music described as "stunning." It all yielded an equally stunning first act for the English singer, who earned a No. 4 Billboard 200 debut, sales of more than 3 million, and her first career GRAMMYs for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Chasing Pavements."
It goes without saying, each of these albums made a huge dent on pop culture. But we want to know: Which of these debut albums is your favorite? Cast your vote!
