Robyn Rihanna Fenty (; born 20 February 1988) is a Barbadian singer, songwriter, and actress. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, and raised in Bridgetown, she was discovered by American record producer Evan Rogers in her home country in 2003. Throughout 2004, she recorded demo tapes under the direction of Rogers and signed a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings after auditioning for its then-president, rapper and hip hop producer Jay-Z. In 2005, Rihanna rose to fame with the release of her debut studio album Music of the Sun as well as its follow-up A Girl like Me (2006). Both albums peaked within the top ten of the US Billboard 200 and respectively produced the successful singles "Pon de Replay", "SOS" and "Unfaithful".
With the release of her third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), Rihanna developed a public image as a sex symbol and incorporated more elements of dance-pop into her music. It became a major breakthrough in her career and earned Rihanna her first Grammy Award at the 2008 ceremony. Recorded after her assault by her then-boyfriend, singer Chris Brown, her fourth studio album, Rated R (2009), is distinguished for its dark themes and lyrical content. Her pop-influenced fifth studio album, Loud (2010), proved successful producing three Billboard Hot 100 number one singles, "Only Girl (In the World)", "What’s My Name", and "S&M". She followed this success with the RIAA multi-platinum certified albums, Talk That Talk (2011), and Grammy Award winner Unapologetic (2012). Her eighth studio album, Anti (2016), became her second Billboard 200 number one album and was one of the most streamed albums of the year.Recognized as a pop icon, Rihanna is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with 280 million records sold worldwide. Many of her songs rank among the world's best-selling singles of all time, including the singles "Umbrella", "Stay" and "Work", as well as her collaboration "Love the Way You Lie" with Eminem. Rihanna is the youngest solo artist to earn fourteen number-one singles and has a total of thirty one top-ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100, she also has over thirty top-tens in the United Kingdom and Australia, making her the only artist in the 21st century to achieve this feat. She was named the Digital Songs Artist of the 2000s century, the top Hot 100 artist of the 2000s century, as well as the all-time top Pop Songs artist by Billboard. Additionally, she is Spotify and Apple Music's most streamed female artist of all time.Among numerous awards and accolades, Rihanna has won nine Grammy Awards, thirteen American Music Awards and twelve Billboard Music Awards. She currently holds six Guinness World Records. Furthermore, she was awarded with the inaugural American Music Award for Icon in 2013 and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award in 2016. Rihanna received the Fashion Icon lifetime achievement award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2014. In 2012, Forbes ranked her the fourth most powerful celebrity, while Time included her on the annual list of the most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2018. Rihanna was named Harvard University's "Humanitarian of the Year" by the Harvard Foundation in early 2017.She was appointed as an Ambassador on behalf of the government of Barbados in 2018, with her duties involving the promotion of education, tourism and investment.
