The 5 Biggest Music Artists of the 2020s (so far)

  One of the pioneers in making R&B sound popular in the mainstream pop world, The Weeknd, real name Abel Tesfaye, reached new heights that even his biggest of fans couldn't have imagined. With an already established name and reputation in the music industry, it was only about to reach the next level. The decade began with the second single off his upcoming fourth album After Hours , "Blinding Lights" debuting at #11 on the US Billboard 200, which would not be a reflection of the song's performance and legacy down the line, peaking at #1 down the line. The album was released in March, not soon after the surge of COVID-19 cases leading to a worldwide shutdown. The album debuted at #1 on the US Billboard 200, making it his fourth consecutive number-one album (three coming from the previous decade). It became the most streamed R&B album of all time, surpassing Tesfaye's own Starboy. In the album's first charting week, Tesfaye also became the first artist ...

In this day and age, there can't be a "biggest artist in the world" discussion and have it not include Taylor Swift. Everyone knows who Taylor Swift is, and everyone knows what Taylor Swift has done. Arguably already the biggest artist of the 2010s, even being honored with the titles of "Artist of the Decade" by the American Music Awards, and "Woman of the Decade" by Billboard. However, the biggest leap of her career was about to be taken this decade. To begin the decade, Taylor Swift had made her intentions clear to re-record the albums and songs she didn't own the masters for, those being owned by her previous record label Big Machine Records, which was later sold to Ithica Holdings for $300 million, with Swift not getting a chance to buy those herself. An act completely unheard of for an artist of this stature, it has inspired artists across the world to fight to have the right to own their music and has possibly changed the music industry for t...

  Who would've imagined that the son of a truck driver and a school teacher from Puerto Rico would end up being one of the biggest artists of the decade so far? Humble beginnings in 2013 by publishing his songs to Soundcloud, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, known by his stage name, Bad Bunny rose to prominence in 2016, and hasn't looked back since. Releasing his critically-acclaimed debut solo studio album X 100pre  in Christmas Eve 2018, and Qasis  with J Balvin in 2019, Bad Bunny walked into the 2020s as an already established star in Latin music, and it was only uphill from here. Kicking off 2020, Bad Bunny released his second solo and third studio album YHLQMDLG (Yo Hago Lo Que Me Da La Gana (Spanish for "I Do What I Want")). The album debuted at #2 on the US Billboard 200, becoming the highest-charting all-Spanish album ever at that time. It also became the most streamed album of 2020 on Spotify, along with Bad Bunny himself being the most streamed artist of the...

  Debuting in 2015, Dua Lipa quickly made a name for herself in the pop music genre within the coming years. Signing with Warner Bros. Records in 2014, she released six singles between 2015 and 2017, until her debut album, the self-titled Dua Lipa , right now the most-streamed female album on Spotify at over 10 billion. Quickly rising up the ranks over the years, Dua Lipa kept herself active with singles such as "One Kiss", a collaboration with Calvin Harris, performing at the opening ceremony of the 2018 UEFA Champions League final, and winning the Best New Artist award at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, along with the Best Dance Recording award for "Electricity" with Silk City. Going into 2020, fresh off the release of the hit single "Don't Start Now", peaking at #2 in both the UK Singles Charts and US Billboard Hot 100, and "Physical" shortly after, Dua released her sophomore record Future Nostalgia  in March 2020 to widespread acclaim. The...

  Arguably the biggest musical group in the world right now, BTS has taken the world by storm, and it seemed like there was no stopping the group from reaching new heights, with only required military service being their roadblock. Debuting in 2013 with their single album 2 Cool 4 Skool alongside lead single "No More Dream", BTS soon became a force to be reckoned with in the music industry. By 2017, they had three Korean studio albums to their name ( Dark & Wild, Wake Up and Wings ) and had crossed over into the United States and the global market, with the Platinum-certified album by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) by a South Korean act with their fourth Korean studio album  Love Yourself: Tear . Their dominance only continued into the 2020s, as they started off the decade by becoming the first K-Pop act to sell more than 20 million albums worldwide, in April. Later that year, BTS would release their first English-language single "Dynamite"...