Between Celine Dion, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Shania Twain and Whitney Houston, who was the most popular female artist during the 1990s?

[DignifiedLove]

Between those six divas, who was the most popular female artist spanning the 90s? Not just how many records did each sell but who really dominated the 90s music and pop culture scene OVERALL?

I always hear Mariah Carey was regarded as the most 'popular' but when I look at the stats, it seems like Madonna, Whitney and Celine were far more global and popular.

ANYWAY - what is the general consensus on this? Who was the most popular female artist during the 90s or how would you rank them? If there is someone I left out, please let me know as well. 

[Roxxy]

Me seeing the title and going oh no not again.  Love you Diggy! ❤

It's Madonna overall. If we're measuring "popularity", it's definitely Madonna across the board. She had so much cultural impact during the Erotica era and her S3x book caused so much media frenzy. 

Mariah was 'commercially' more successful though. Chartwise and sales. She had 14 #1s and Daydream and Musicbox combined outsold Madonna's entire 90s output. Madonna only released 3 studio albums in the 90s while Mariah had 7 - not including their compilations and EPs. That's why Mariah is frequently associated more with the 90s because she just dominated the decade with so much content. 

But since the thread is asking for 'popularity', it's definitely Madonna overall because her power is truly her impact on pop culture. She's the same as Britney who only dropped 1 moderate hit single and 1 flop single in 2005 and a flop remix album in 2006 but she still kept her crown as the most searched person on the internet for the years and arguably the most popular celebrity for those 2 years where she wasn't a commercial force. Even in 2007, arguably a flop year for her as well with Blackout but she was still culturally impactful despite not winning the sales and charts game. We can even go back to as early as 2003 during Beyoncé's debut year, Britney only released 1 single that year and an album at the last 6 weeks of the year, but who was 2003 associated with? It's Britney and her one flop #35 peaking single while Beyoncé had a back2back #1 with Crazy in Love #1 for 8 weeks and Baby Boy #1 for 9 weeks.

Madonna only needs 4 minutes to save the world.

[Spicechinodiva]

Culturally impact. Madonna 3 studio albums. All different sounds

Erotica. Gets misjudged for being *** heavy. But 3 tracks were. Also was her first album to be labeled Explicit.  14 track explicit cd. 13 track edited cd. But oddly. The edited version is not edited. They removed the most ****** track Did you do it? How a feminist like Madonna would allow a guy rapping about dropping a load, Sitting on her face. Ugh. It's because of that decision she axed the flawless house track Goodbye to Innocence.  I'll add the YouTube link when i edit this comment..

 

The *** book was the most controversial career move that damn near cancelled her.

 

Bedtime stories was one of the few times she worked with mainstream producers and it worked

 

 

Dallas Austin,  Dave Jam Hall, Nelle Hooper and Babyface along with Madonna gave us the R&B album that Hard Candy wishes it was. Also boasts her iconic ballad Take a Bow.

plus ray of light which introduced dance music that was electronic,  Rave and not straight forward pop. 

 

Without ray of light and Madonna someone would not get his beloved Alien 15 years later.

 

Honestly MC only ruled internationally from 93-96. When butterfly came out and she started incoprating hip hop and R&B. Her international sales declined and she basically until Mimi became a local star minus Japan.

 

Celine had a massive impact. but she's mostly known as the boat song now. That's all people associate with her in the 90s. Titanic and that's it. 

 

Shania Twain invented the new genre of country pop. Created Taylor swift.  End of story. 

Whitney Houston only hae the bodyguard soundtrack as her biggest moment..

 

Madonna wins

 

 

[DignifiedLove]

2 hours ago, Roxxy said:

Me seeing the title and going oh no not again.  Love you Diggy! ❤

It's Madonna overall. If we're measuring "popularity", it's definitely Madonna across the board. She had so much cultural impact during the Erotica era and her S3x book caused so much media frenzy. 

Mariah was 'commercially' more successful though. Chartwise and sales. She had 14 #1s and Daydream and Musicbox combined outsold Madonna's entire 90s output. Madonna only released 3 studio albums in the 90s while Mariah had 7 - not including their compilations and EPs. That's why Mariah is frequently associated more with the 90s because she just dominated the decade with so much content. 

But since the thread is asking for 'popularity', it's definitely Madonna overall because her power is truly her impact on pop culture. She's the same as Britney who only dropped 1 moderate hit single and 1 flop single in 2005 and a flop remix album in 2006 but she still kept her crown as the most searched person on the internet for the years and arguably the most popular celebrity for those 2 years where she wasn't a commercial force. Even in 2007, arguably a flop year for her as well with Blackout but she was still culturally impactful despite not winning the sales and charts game. We can even go back to as early as 2003 during Beyoncé's debut year, Britney only released 1 single that year and an album at the last 6 weeks of the year, but who was 2003 associated with? It's Britney and her one flop #35 peaking single while Beyoncé had a back2back #1 with Crazy in Love #1 for 8 weeks and Baby Boy #1 for 9 weeks.

Madonna only needs 4 minutes to save the world.

 

2 hours ago, Spicechinodiva said:

Culturally impact. Madonna 3 studio albums. All different sounds

Erotica. Gets misjudged for being *** heavy. But 3 tracks were. Also was her first album to be labeled Explicit.  14 track explicit cd. 13 track edited cd. But oddly. The edited version is not edited. They removed the most ****** track Did you do it? How a feminist like Madonna would allow a guy rapping about dropping a load, Sitting on her face. Ugh. It's because of that decision she axed the flawless house track Goodbye to Innocence.  I'll add the YouTube link when i edit this comment..

 

The *** book was the most controversial career move that damn near cancelled her.

 

Bedtime stories was one of the few times she worked with mainstream producers and it worked

 

 

Dallas Austin,  Dave Jam Hall, Nelle Hooper and Babyface along with Madonna gave us the R&B album that Hard Candy wishes it was. Also boasts her iconic ballad Take a Bow.

plus ray of light which introduced dance music that was electronic,  Rave and not straight forward pop. 

 

Without ray of light and Madonna someone would not get his beloved Alien 15 years later.

 

Honestly MC only ruled internationally from 93-96. When butterfly came out and she started incoprating hip hop and R&B. Her international sales declined and she basically until Mimi became a local star minus Japan.

 

Celine had a massive impact. but she's mostly known as the boat song now. That's all people associate with her in the 90s. Titanic and that's it. 

 

Shania Twain invented the new genre of country pop. Created Taylor swift.  End of story. 

Whitney Houston only hae the bodyguard soundtrack as her biggest moment..

 

Madonna wins

 

 

Great explanations. So it's really safe to say Madonna was the queen of the 80s and 90s?  Also, who do you guys think would be the runner-up then? Mariah? Celine? Whitney?

IDK why but I feel like Whitney's presence felt more in the 90s than Mariah, but that could be just me. 

[redacted statement]

[Roxxy]

4 hours ago, DignifiedLove said:

Also, who do you guys think would be the runner-up then? Mariah? Celine? Whitney?

IDK why but I feel like Whitney's presence felt more in the 90s than Mariah, but that could be just me. 

For popularity? It would be Whitney Houston. I think. But it would probably be a really close toss up between her and Mariah. A very tight one, because both of them individually outsold Madonna, Janet, and Celine. Whitney Houston, like Madonna, I think just had so much impact because of the success of The Bodyguard film and it's soundtrack. Songs like I'm Every Woman, I Will Always Love You, I'm Your Baby Tonight, and Queen of the Night are songs that are embedded in our society not just in the US but around the world. Give me a 90s Mariah single that's as iconic and as referenced in society as I'm Every Woman? You won't. If you have to think and have to look at her catalog before answering, then it's not iconic. However, Whitney actually had lower sales by the time her last album of the decade was released. Meanwhile, Mariah has been consistent since her debut. She had a #1 album and single when she debuted, and still had a #1 at the end of the decade (and even spilled onto the beginning of the millenium). And maybe in this instance, Mariah's consistency as well as her loading the entire decade with just so much content can definitely be a valid argument that she might be second to Madonna.

However, I will still say Whitney just because my Mom knows Whitney so much while knowing so little about Mariah. Not even because my Mom was born in the 60s and Mariah came out much later than Whitney. My Mom is very familiar with even Whitney's 90s output. So yeah, it's Whitney if we're measuring - popularity. 

[Spicechinodiva]

When Mariah debuted. The press dubbed as the White Whitney. I mean before when yiu believe and they became friends. Let's not act Whitney shaded the F out of Mariah. Cos of the comparisons. 

[Blackout2006]

Okay i think we are giving Madonna too much credit, lol. Lets be honest, Tica, Bedtime stories and Something to remember flopped commercially at the time. I mean 8 million, 8 million and 10 million for an artist like Madonna who sold 20 million copies with Like a prayer is so low. The only time Madonna was big in the 90s was the late 90s (her comeback era) and the year 1990 because of the song vogue.

Mariah Carey was the Best-Selling Female Artist of the 90s, and was in the top 10 for a whole 7 years. This video basically proves how after 1992, Madonna had a severe decline in sales and popularity.

The one female artist that matched up to Mariah was Celine Dion.

However, overall Mariah Carey defeated them all in the 90s

[GMFlop]

I don't know about impact but Mariah was consistent on the top of the chart. Whitney was huge by album wise, I think. 

[bliss]

In terms of worldwide success it was: 1. Mariah 2. Celine 3. Janet 4. Madonna 5. Whitney 6. Shania

but in terms of impact it was: 1. Madonna 2. Mariah 3. Whitney 4. Janet 5. Shania 6. Celine

[CHAOTIC STYLE.]

On 3/30/2020 at 2:32 PM, iAlwaysSingLive said:

that was petty 

[MX3]

I vote Janet. 

She came into the 90's strong and released big albums throughout the decade - Rhythm Nation, Janet. (with the iconic rolling stone cover) and the Velvet Rope. She had 14 top five hits (four Grammys) and iconic music videos (7 VMA's), including Scream with Michael Jackson which is one of the most expensive music videos ever made. She was in a movie with Tupac that gained her two MTV Movie Awards (with her song from that movie being nominated for an academy award) and won the 'legend award' at the 1999 world music awards....

I'm not going to get into any more wikipedia copy pasta about those eras and the records she broke etc etc but I vote Janet 

[SloppyToppyGoddess]

[Jordan Miller]

My gut says either Whitney or Mariah

[Itscuzim31]

The great thing about the 90s is that each and every woman on this list was given their own lane to thrive. Yes, media has always pitted them against was her other (Mariah vs Whitney, Madonna vs Janet) the Stan wars of who was best or biggest that we have now weren’t present back then. Let’s leave it that way. 

[Fabricio Alex]

Madonna. Next question? 

[BlurOut]

MADONNA of course, no doubt.

[limezd]

Quote

 

If you look at the streaming numbers for each diva today, you’ll notice that whitney is way ahead of all of them. So whitney was a selling beast who not only dominated the music charts but also silver screen and tv screens. She produced movies for Disney was before Beyoncé got her contract. 
 

also, I think whitney is the only diva this week who had a top 40 album on the UK chart, as well as a Billboard 200 album with her GH albums.

also Higher Love was a massive world wide hit that spent 49 weeks on UK chart. As well as #1 for 16 weeks at billboard dance chart, and is still at #7 this weeks, 56 weeks after it was released.

whitney released 2 studio albums and 3 soundtracks in the 90’s and still was the dominant diva compared to her rivals. She was able to release less albums but match the sales of all of the other ones who released an album a year during the 90’s. Her sales per album were that good.

also WW people in countries that have different laws when it comes to woman, you have to remember that unlike Madonna... whitney, Mariah, Celine and even Janet were much more respected because they did not use *** to promote their work. They were more accepted.

whitney always won, and she’s still winning even after her passing.

[bliss]

2 hours ago, MX3 said:

I vote Janet. 

She came into the 90's strong and released big albums throughout the decade - Rhythm Nation, Janet. (with the iconic rolling stone cover) and the Velvet Rope. She had 14 top five hits (four Grammys) and iconic music videos (7 VMA's), including Scream with Michael Jackson which is one of the most expensive music videos ever made. She was in a movie with Tupac that gained her two MTV Movie Awards (with her song from that movie being nominated for an academy award) and won the 'legend award' at the 1999 world music awards....

I'm not going to get into any more wikipedia copy pasta about those eras and the records she broke etc etc but I vote Janet 

I absolutely love Janet but Mariah was more successful than her in the 90s, mainly because Janet only released 2 studio albums during that decade (Rhythm Nation was released in September 1989), Mariah sold 130M albums while Janet sold 50M + Mariah had 14 #1 hits while Janet had 6 #1 hits and Mariah was crowned artist of the decade by Billboard and One Sweet Day was also crowned as Song Of The Decade

[limezd]

3 minutes ago, bliss said:

I absolutely love Janet but Mariah was more successful than her in the 90s, mainly because Janet only released 2 studio albums during that decade (Rhythm Nation was released in September 1989), Mariah sold 130M albums while Janet sold 50M + Mariah had 14 #1 hits while Janet had 6 #1 hits and Mariah was crowned artist of the decade by Billboard and One Sweet Day was also crowned as Song Of The Decade

What’s One Sweet Day?