Women artists etched some of the most vaunted records ever on Billboard’s charts over the first quarter of the 21st century, sparking their status among the 100 Top Women Artists of the 21st Century, based on performance on the Billboard 200 albums chart and the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.
Among their honors, Taylor Swift claimed the entire top 14 titles on the Hot 100 last May the week that her album The Tortured Poets Department launched atop the Billboard 200, marking the most Hot 100 hits from No. 1 on down in a single week. The set also became her 14th Billboard 200 No. 1, the most among women and tying for the most among soloists in the chart’s history.
In 2019, Mariah Carey became the first artist to top the Hot 100 in four distinct decades, dating to the 1990s, thanks to the enduring appeal of her seasonal chestnut “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Plus, Adele’s 21 ruled the Billboard 200 for 24 weeks in 2011-12, the longest No. 1 run ever for an album by a woman, and Katy Perry notched five Hot 100 No. 1s from 2010’s Teenage Dream, making the set the first by a woman to land that many leading songs.
Essentially, over the first quarter of the 21st century on Billboard’s charts, girls ran the world.
Ahead of 2025’s Women in Music celebration, to be held Saturday, March 29, at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California, Billboard has ranked the top-performing artists, albums and songs of the first 25 years of the century since 2000. Below, we’re counting down all 100 Top Women Artists of the 21st Century (including soloists, all-women groups and groups with prominent women’s vocals), to be revealed — 20 per day — on March 13, 14, 17, 18 and 19.
Plus, check out Top Artists of the 21st Century, Top Billboard 200 Albums of the 21st Century and Billboard’s Top Hot 100 Songs of the 21st Century charts, as well as all coverage of Billboard’s 21st Century charts here.
Billboard’s Top Artists, Top Billboard 200 Albums and Top Hot 100 Songs of the 21st Century recaps reflect performance on weekly charts dated Jan. 1, 2000, through Dec. 28, 2024. The Top Artists category, including the Top Women Artists of the 21st Century recap, ranks the best-performing acts in that span based on activity on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100. (Titles released prior to mid-1999 are excluded, although such entries that appeared on the Billboard 200 or Hot 100 in that span contribute to the calculation of the Top Artists chart.)
