Biggest, highest peak of a female star

[Dalliance]

Not necessarily the album itself, but the overall era and the prominence associated with it.

EDIT: Did I miss any? I tried to limit it to one option for any particular star to the extent that I think most would agree with the option.

[think pink.]

Whitney Houston - The Bodyguard

The others had huge selling albums but this era had that, and a worldwide box office smash. It was inescapable.

[think pink.]

I would have included Janet Jackson instead of Beyonce. The "Beyonce" album has sold well but the singles made zero impact.

ETA: Not counting "Drunk In Love" but I feel like that was more an urban hit than pop smash.

[Joe1240]

Adele-21

[jordie]

This is great, I mean, thank you.
Everyone said that Britney's peak era is oops, britney or in the zone and now you say it's baby one more time. thanks.

By the way, I made the poll 'favorite pop icon during peak'.

[grandelf]

Shania Twain - Come On Over

Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill could be included as well.

[when the pawn...]

I voted Whitney. Hard to say since I wasn't old enough to GET it at the time (same w/ Madonna and Mariah) but it seems like she was on top of the world.

The only other ones I'd consider adding would be Jagged Little Pill, The Fame/The Fame Monster and Janet.

[Envoirment]

Adele - 21 followed closely by Whitney Houston - Bodyguard.

[nightshade]

Lady GaGa's The Fame/Fame Mons†er should've been included IMO.

I voted for ADELE's 21.

[Dalliance]

You should give your reason rather than just stating who you voted for. The poll results already tell us who got what votes.

[nightshade]

Aug 26, 2014 13:02:39 GMT -5 Dalliance said:

You should give your reason rather than just stating who you voted for. The poll results already tell us who got what votes.

Reason: ADELE

[Deleted]

1. Whitney
2. Britney
3. Shania



4. Adele

[ILLUSION]

How could you forget The Fame Monster, Breakaway, and Teenage Dream?

[Hefty Hanna]

I would argue that Mariah's peak was 'Daydream' and that Lady Gaga should have probably been included.

Idk who to go with. Madonna or Britney.

[think pink.]

Aug 26, 2014 15:17:02 GMT -5 ILLUSION said:

How could you forget The Fame Monster, Breakaway, and Teenage Dream?

Easily. I did

[#brayden]

I gotta give it to Shania. Come On Over was massive.

[Dalliance]

Aug 26, 2014 15:17:02 GMT -5 ILLUSION said:

How could you forget The Fame Monster, Breakaway, and Teenage Dream?

Please.

[damazz09]

Do people really think that Adele's was the biggest? I think that all of her songs were massive but the one thing that was missing was that all other artists brought their personality along too. Adele's songs + albums were massive but the popstar of Adele wasn't huge. I think all the other ladies had huge eras + brought this element of popstar (sans Madonna, Britney, Gaga, Whitney)- I feel like I know those artists- Adele, not so much

[Vic]

People discounting Madonna's reign and popularity during the 80's and that album shows either how misinformed some of you are.

[dbhmr]

Aug 27, 2014 9:20:35 GMT -5 damazz09 said:

Do people really think that Adele's was the biggest? I think that all of her songs were massive but the one thing that was missing was that all other artists brought their personality along too. Adele's songs + albums were massive but the popstar of Adele wasn't huge. I think all the other ladies had huge eras + brought this element of popstar (sans Madonna, Britney, Gaga, Whitney)- I feel like I know those artists- Adele, not so much

Though I'm torn between voting for Madonna or Whitney, I disagree with this. Adele's regular, reclusive, humble, funny personality was a huge element of her success. At the time she came in with 21, popstars were coming up with grander and more outlandish schemes and performances and videos and outfits, thanks in part to Lady Gaga making that a thing again. Everything about her and her music felt very opposite, and it totally worked. People were connected to her, and that's why they did what they didn't do with the other pop stars of recent years: they bought her album in droves.

Still, I'd rank her certainly behind Madonna and Whitney, and I'm not sure who is on top between Adele and Britney. I think the Britney fever pitch was higher, but the love for Adele was more universal (and more respectful). Hard to say. If anyone had a personality deficit at their prescribed peak, it was Mariah. It seems like she only adopted this super-aloof diva persona during her comeback and beyond.

[Deleted]

^^ agree that during her heyday she was suppressing her personality. However the aloof diva started coming out during 1997, and went out of control during the late 90's early 00's (MTV CRIBS ANYONE, YASSSSS!)

[Focus]

Shania - Come on Over
and I'd say Alanis - Jagged Little Pill would be high on the list.

[Linnethia Monique]

Every interview, performance, single release, record broken, acceptance speech was just perfect.

[Dalliance]

It's between Madonna and Whitney for me. With Madge, stellar commercial success coalesced with unprecedented cultural impact. With Whitney, her collective achievements from that era in terms of album sales, box office performance and singles success haven't been topped.

Aug 27, 2014 10:43:06 GMT -5 Linnethia Monique said:

Every interview, performance, single release, record broken, acceptance speech was just perfect.

This isn't about your qualitative judgements though.

[Deleted]

Aug 27, 2014 10:33:22 GMT -5 dbhmr said:

Aug 27, 2014 9:20:35 GMT -5 damazz09 said:

Do people really think that Adele's was the biggest? I think that all of her songs were massive but the one thing that was missing was that all other artists brought their personality along too. Adele's songs + albums were massive but the popstar of Adele wasn't huge. I think all the other ladies had huge eras + brought this element of popstar (sans Madonna, Britney, Gaga, Whitney)- I feel like I know those artists- Adele, not so much

Though I'm torn between voting for Madonna or Whitney, I disagree with this. Adele's regular, reclusive, humble, funny personality was a huge element of her success. At the time she came in with 21, popstars were coming up with grander and more outlandish schemes and performances and videos and outfits, thanks in part to Lady Gaga making that a thing again. Everything about her and her music felt very opposite, and it totally worked. People were connected to her, and that's why they did what they didn't do with the other pop stars of recent years: they bought her album in droves.

Still, I'd rank her certainly behind Madonna and Whitney, and I'm not sure who is on top between Adele and Britney. I think the Britney fever pitch was higher, but the love for Adele was more universal (and more respectful). Hard to say. If anyone had a personality deficit at their prescribed peak, it was Mariah. It seems like she only adopted this super-aloof diva persona during her comeback and beyond.

I agree.

Even though Adele's style was to be the laid back, charming superstar, I'd say that was as much a part of her success as her massive sales and acclaim.

Sure, she might seem average compared to the typical Pop star personality, but if everyone had the desire to be Britney or Madonna sized personality it'd get old pretty quickly.

[jordie]

Hit Me Baby One More Time is like the biggest era by a female artist, not just because it's my favourite, but the others weren't that big.

[Deleted]

Selling 2 1/2 times as much as the second higher selling of of the decade (so far) and spawning 3 #1's and 5 Top 20's and all flawless songs, I'd say Adele for sure.

Also, I'm a little surprised to see Katy Perry's Teenage Dream era on here. 5 #1's on the album, a feat only matched by Michael Jackson's Thriller (the best selling album of all time). Katy Perry was all over the place.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

I don't know if I'd pick any of these. Well, maybe Adele, which I'd say is the only one to surpass Alanis as far as absolute career peaks are concerned (buzz, sales, hits, coverage, etc). The thing with Madonna, for example, is that her career has had ups and downs and maintained itself overall pretty well but I wouldn't say she's had a peak as high as 21 or JLP were. But then I also can't really comment on anything pre-1994 so I could be way off base with that comment. I'd also have put Daydream there over Music Box.

[Deleted]

I may be a tad biased as it was the first huge era I watched from beginning to end, but Whitney wins this one for me. Not only did she have the massive album sales and huge hit singles, but she won a boat load of awards and had a hit movie to boot. She was everywhere in 1993/1994. There have been some major highs since then, most notably Alanis Morissette with Jagged Little Pill, Mariah Carey with Daydream, Britney Spears with Oops...I Did It Again, Lady Gaga with The Fame\The Fame Monster and Adele with 21. They all sold boatloads of albums, scored hits and racked up major awards, but none of them had a hit movie to go with it. Regardless of how successful anyone of them has been, not one has an "I Will Always Love You' in their cannon. That alone, to me, wins this for Whitney.

[kmbgs]

Honestly it's Madonna 1989-91. I don't think many people here are appreciating it for what it actually was. Beyonce shouldn't be a choice. Mariah should just have a span from 93-96 because she was so dominant then. I'd place Madonna 89-91, then The Bodyguard, then Mariah in terms of impact (funny - that's basically a chronology of the years 89-96).

Adele sold well, won some Grammy's, but the cultural impact/pervasiveness that the Bodyguard and LAP eras were colored by is just so severely lacking.

Another point - a peak with a true 'impact' shouldn't be easily defined by a single album. I.e. Madonna was so dominant for those two years, she had LAP released, Vogue, and the Immaculate Collection. You can't even find a "moment" that was her peak because it lasted so long. Adele had a monster album - she didn't dominate pop culture like madonna did, and she sure as hell didn't have such a long "peak" like she did at the end of the 80s.