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Kim Petras
Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Universal Music Group for Brands
Petras made history at the2023 Grammy Awards, when she and Sam Smith took home the award forbest pop duo/group performancefor “Unholy,” making her the first openly transgender woman to win the award.
“I just want to thank the incredible transgender legends before me who kicked these doors open so I could be here,” she said in heremotional acceptance speech.
“[Pop music] means everything to me,“she told PEOPLE. “When I was a kid, I used to not really have friends in school. I hated going to school — I got bullied pretty bad. I used to run home from school and watchGwen Stefanimusic videos, and I felt like I could escape my problems with that.”
Fast forward to 2022, when her song with Sam Smith, “Unholy"reached No. 1 on theBillboardHot 100, making Smith the first-ever openly non-binary solo artist and Petras the first openly transgender solo artist to reach the top of the chart since its inception in 1991.
The feat “isa huge middle finger to all the [record] labelsthat were like, ‘We don’t know how to market you,’ and to everyone who doubted me and said I couldn’t achieve this because of my gender identity,” said Petras to PEOPLE in November 2022, as she released her single “If Jesus Was a Rockstar.”
But, she adds, her success is about so much more than her gender identity: “I feel like my songs are good because they’re relatable to anybody. I feel like that is a big part of the equality that I want: for people to realize that everybody’s just equal and the same and have the same issues and go through the same things emotionally.”
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SZA
SZA.SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP/Getty
“Since she burst onto the scene in 2017, SZA has defied genres and continually released raw, powerful songs which have landed her music on the Billboard charts,” Hannah Karp, Billboard’s editorial director said in a press release announcing the award.
During an interview withCosmopolitanpublished in 2021, SZA (pronounced Sizza, and born Solána Rowe), 33, explained that she felt she was still “figuring out” whoshe was as an artist.
By 2022, SZA told PEOPLE that in the midst of working onSOS, she realized the importance ofembracing who she really is.
“Right now I’m just entering my era where I am accepting that I might be a bitch, and that’s OK,” she said. “Not all the time, but I’m not a bubblegum sweetheart and that’s OK.”
She continued, “I’m OK with also being the villain, I’m OK with speaking my mind and just being who God designed me to be.”
Ultimately, she said, this album is her “coming to terms with all the different parts of me.”
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Maren Morris
Maren Morris.Jason Kempin/Getty
After first rising to fame with her Grammy-winning song “My Church”, the lead single off her major label debut albumHeroin 2016, Morris' success only continued to climb after her pop collaboration with Zedd and Grey, “The Middle,” and she continues to top charts and collaborate with other artists (includingcountry supergroup The Highwomen).
The singer, 32, has also used her voice in support of equality and fairness, which has made her a standout in the country music scene.
“It’s not going to be an overnight thing to feel like it’s more inclusive, butI am seeing it change for the better,” she told PEOPLE in 2022. “Even if I’ve lost fans along the way, I’m truly willing to put my own ass on the line to stand up for what’s right. When you come to a show of mine, I want it to feel fun and safe. And anyone from any walk of life can show up that night and know that they will be accepted. So if I have to slap off some randos along the way, it’s honestly for the betterment of country music.”
The “Bones” singer has also used her platform to speak out against anti-LGBTQ behavior, calling outCandace Cameron Burein November 2022 after the actress said that her new partnership with the Great American Family network will “keep traditional marriage at the core.”
Morris told PEOPLE in 2022 that she “didn’t start making music to become an activist” but was inspired to speak up after “seeing the inequality in the genre I happened to come up in.”
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Beyoncé
Beyoncé.Kevin Winter/Getty
They don’t call herQueen Beyfor nothing!
Upon accepting the award for best dance/electronic music album for her seventh studio album,Renaissance,at the 2023Grammy Awards, Beyoncé, 41, broke the record for most Grammy award wins at a whopping 32.
Since then, she’s been nominated 88 times and performed eight times, both with Destiny’s Child and as a solo artist.
Ahead of her record-breaking Grammy appearance, she returned to the stage for her first full concert since 2018, with an hour-long performance at the newAtlantis The Royal Resortin Dubai.
And to keep the momentum going, Beyoncé kicks off herRenaissance World Tourin Europe on May 10, 2023 and comes to North America in July.
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Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton.Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
“I’m kind of addicted to the feeling of giving,” Parton toldPEOPLEin December 2021 for the People of the Year issue. “Knowing that I’m doing something good for someone else.”
Beyond the music world, the legendary singer-songwriter is incredibly philanthropic. In 2020, Parton donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, which helped fund research that led to theModerna COVID vaccine, and raised over$700,000 for flood victimsin her native Tennessee last year. Her long-runningImagination Libraryproject has also donated over 165 million books to children around the globe since 1995.
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Brandi Carlile
Kevin Winter/Getty
The folk-rock singer-songwriter sailed onto the scene with her self-titled album in 2005, and has never looked back. Her star continued to rise with her second record,The Story, which hit the Billboard 200 in 2007. Carlile, 41, hit a career high with her sixth album,By the Way, I Forgive Youin 2018. She scored six nominations for the record at the 61st AnnualGrammy Awards– the most for a female artist that year – took home three Grammys that evening.
Carlile has continued to dominate at the biggest night in music in the years since, and has won 9 Grammy awards in her career so far — with 24 nominations!
Ever honest with fans, Carlile reflected on her childhood in poverty, sexuality, faith and journey to success in her memoirBroken Horses, which toppedThe New York Timesbestseller list when it was released last spring.
Speaking toPEOPLEat the time, Carlile opened up about what it meant to be a parent who is part of the LGBTQ+ community. The star shares daughters Evangeline and Elijah with wife Catherine Shepherd.
“I’m hoping people see through my story that there’s no right or wrong way to evolve into a parenting role in either heterosexual or same-sex relationships,” Carlile said. “There are different, complicated dynamics, and there are many ways to feel. The more we talk about it and normalize it, the easier it is to understand that your parenting journey is custom. It really is your own.”
Carlile also runs her own organization, Looking Out Foundation, whichshe started with money made from a General Motors commercialshe and her bandmates Tim and Phil Hanseroth worked on — after helping to rewrite the ad to feature the company’s electric cars. The organization raises money and awareness for causes in the arts, human rights, women’s equality and more.
Catherine, Carlile’s wife,came on board as the executive director of LOF in 2012.
07of 14LizzoKevin Mazur/GettyThe singer splashed onto the scene in 2019 with the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping “Truth Hurts,” a full two years after the empowering bop was released. Lizzo has since earnedfour Grammysand millions of fans for her honest lyrics about body image, Black beauty and putting yourself first.“I deserve the spotlight,” Lizzo toldPEOPLEof her success so far in her Women Changing the World cover story in 2022. “I deserve the attention. I’m talented, I’m young, I’m hot. You know? And I’ve worked hard.“And she’s determined to make that “big break” easier for those looking to follow in her footsteps.“Girls that look like me don’t get representation. Time to pull up my sleeves and find them myself,“Lizzo said in the trailer forBig Grrrls,herEmmy-award winning reality seriesabout the search for her backup dancers.
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Lizzo
Kevin Mazur/Getty
The singer splashed onto the scene in 2019 with the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping “Truth Hurts,” a full two years after the empowering bop was released. Lizzo has since earnedfour Grammysand millions of fans for her honest lyrics about body image, Black beauty and putting yourself first.
“I deserve the spotlight,” Lizzo toldPEOPLEof her success so far in her Women Changing the World cover story in 2022. “I deserve the attention. I’m talented, I’m young, I’m hot. You know? And I’ve worked hard.”
And she’s determined to make that “big break” easier for those looking to follow in her footsteps.
“Girls that look like me don’t get representation. Time to pull up my sleeves and find them myself,“Lizzo said in the trailer forBig Grrrls,herEmmy-award winning reality seriesabout the search for her backup dancers.
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Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift.Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
A champion for artists' rights, Swift got the green light in 2020 tore-record her first five albums, after Scooter Braun gained ownership of her older music in a $330 million deal with Big Machine Label Group the year before. Sharing her side of the story onTwitterat the time, Swift said she had attempted to “enter into negotiations” to buy her music back, but walked away when asked to sign an “ironclad NDA” stating she would only speak positively about Braun during the process.
Her first re-recorded album,Fearless (Taylor’s Version),debuted at No. 1on theBillboardcharts in April 2021, and her second,Red (Taylor’s Version), topped the charts in November, making them the only re-recorded albums in history to ever reach the top spot.
In October 2022, Swift released her tenth studio album,Midnights, which she followed up with the announcement that she would be hitting the road for herEras Tour.
In 2023, Swift was ranked at No. 9 onForbes' annual list ofthe highest-paid entertainers in the world— having earned $92 million in 2022 — making herthe only woman to appear in the top 10.
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The Chicks
Frank Micelotta/Getty
The superstar country trio comprised of Natalie Maines, Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire have never shied from speaking their minds on politics.
The band infamously becameblacklisted from the country music scenein 2003 after Maines, 47, denounced PresidentGeorge W. Bushduring a London concert, voicing her disapproval of the Iraq war and the then-president. Taking a hiatus from making music for a few years, their 2007 recordTaking the Long Waywon five trophies at the 49th AnnualGrammy Awards, including album of the year.
The Chicks have sold 27 million albums in the U.S. to date, making them the largest-selling country group of the Nielsen SoundScan era (1991 – present), perBillboard, and won 13 Grammys.
In 2020, the trio formerly known as the Dixie Chicks met the moment again when theydropped the nicknamefor the Civil War-era South from their band name.
After the rebrand, the Chicks released the anthem “March March,” and with it,a powerful music videofeaturing footage of protests supporting Black Lives Matter, women’s rights, gay rights and the environment.
In conversation withAllurein 2020, Maines told the magazine that no matter what, “the politics of this band is inseparable from the music.”
10of 14Cardi BCardi B.Kevin Winter/GettyIt’s Cardi’s party! The former stripper catapulted into the spotlight with her rap “Bodak Yellow” in 2017, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts that summer. Her first studio album,Invasion of Privacy, debuted in the No. 1 spot on theBillboard200 chart the following year, and she would become the first woman to have five singles in the top 10 simultaneously on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts, per herwebsite.Cardi made music history again at the 61st AnnualGrammy Awardsin 2019, as the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album as a solo artist – a record she still holds today.“Bodak Yellow” would also go on to earn the RIAA diamond certification (10x platinum), making her the first female rapper to achieve the feat.Continuing to slay in 2020,Cardibecame the first female rapper with the most songs with a billion Spotify streams, for “I Like It” and “Girls Like You” withMaroon 5, perForbes.The mother of two andBillboard’s 2020 Woman of the Year has also collaborated with other women making names for themselves in music, includingMegan Thee StallionandNormani,and has continued to be an entrepreneur and savvy businesswoman.
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Cardi B
Cardi B.Kevin Winter/Getty
It’s Cardi’s party! The former stripper catapulted into the spotlight with her rap “Bodak Yellow” in 2017, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts that summer. Her first studio album,Invasion of Privacy, debuted in the No. 1 spot on theBillboard200 chart the following year, and she would become the first woman to have five singles in the top 10 simultaneously on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts, per herwebsite.
Cardi made music history again at the 61st AnnualGrammy Awardsin 2019, as the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album as a solo artist – a record she still holds today.
“Bodak Yellow” would also go on to earn the RIAA diamond certification (10x platinum), making her the first female rapper to achieve the feat.
Continuing to slay in 2020,Cardibecame the first female rapper with the most songs with a billion Spotify streams, for “I Like It” and “Girls Like You” withMaroon 5, perForbes.
The mother of two andBillboard’s 2020 Woman of the Year has also collaborated with other women making names for themselves in music, includingMegan Thee StallionandNormani,and has continued to be an entrepreneur and savvy businesswoman.
11of 14Ariana GrandeKevin Mazur/Getty ImagesLike she sang in “7 Rings,” Grande gets what she wants! Grande, 29, has been one of the most-streamed artists on Spotify in recent years and currently commands a following of more than 63 million monthly listeners.In 2021, she earned her whopping20th Guiness Book of World Records titlewhen “Positions,” from her 2020 album of the same name, topped the Billboard Hot 100 list — at the time, she was the only artist to do that five times. (Drake has sincebroken the record, with seven).With two Grammys on her mantle and 15 total nominations, Grande’s ascent has always been on her own terms.The “God is a Woman” singer dropped her three most recent albums in rapid succession (Sweetenerin 2018,Thank U, Nextin 2019 andPositionsin 2020), eschewing pop’s traditional rules around music releases because she wanted to reach her fans at those moments in her life.In conversation withBillboardin 2018 for her Woman of the Year cover, Grande declared that any pushback she experienced about her career decisions was sexist.“My dream has always been to be — obviously not a rapper, but to put out music in the way that a rapper does. I feel like there are certain standards that pop women are held to that men aren’t,” she explained.“It’s just like, ‘Bruh, I just want to f—ng talk to my fans and sing and write music and drop it the way these boys do. Why do they get to make records like that and I don’t?’ " Grande said. “So I do and I did and I am, and I will continue to.“In recent months, Grande has taken a break from music tostar as Glinda the Good Witchin the upcomingWickedfilm adaptations. In February, though, sheteased that she was working on her section of a remixof The Weekend’s 2016Starboyhit “Die for You” whichwas released Feb. 24.
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Ariana Grande
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Like she sang in “7 Rings,” Grande gets what she wants! Grande, 29, has been one of the most-streamed artists on Spotify in recent years and currently commands a following of more than 63 million monthly listeners.
In 2021, she earned her whopping20th Guiness Book of World Records titlewhen “Positions,” from her 2020 album of the same name, topped the Billboard Hot 100 list — at the time, she was the only artist to do that five times. (Drake has sincebroken the record, with seven).
With two Grammys on her mantle and 15 total nominations, Grande’s ascent has always been on her own terms.
The “God is a Woman” singer dropped her three most recent albums in rapid succession (Sweetenerin 2018,Thank U, Nextin 2019 andPositionsin 2020), eschewing pop’s traditional rules around music releases because she wanted to reach her fans at those moments in her life.
In conversation withBillboardin 2018 for her Woman of the Year cover, Grande declared that any pushback she experienced about her career decisions was sexist.
“My dream has always been to be — obviously not a rapper, but to put out music in the way that a rapper does. I feel like there are certain standards that pop women are held to that men aren’t,” she explained.
“It’s just like, ‘Bruh, I just want to f—ng talk to my fans and sing and write music and drop it the way these boys do. Why do they get to make records like that and I don’t?’ " Grande said. “So I do and I did and I am, and I will continue to.”
In recent months, Grande has taken a break from music tostar as Glinda the Good Witchin the upcomingWickedfilm adaptations. In February, though, sheteased that she was working on her section of a remixof The Weekend’s 2016Starboyhit “Die for You” whichwas released Feb. 24.
12of 14BLACKPINKBLACKPINK.Scott Dudelson/GettyWatch out, world! The four-woman South Korean girl band, comprised of members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa, won’t stop short of world domination. The fearsome foursome has smashed multiple records since getting together in 2016, setting Guinness World Records for the most-watched music videos within 24 hour of release on YouTube with their videos for “Kill This Love” in 2019 and “How You Like That” in 2020, per theorganization.BLACKPINK is also the highest-charting Korean girl group on the Billboard Hot 100, shooting to no. 13 in 2020 for their song “Ice Cream” withSelena Gomez,Billboardreported. Commanding a loyal fanbase across the internet, Blackpink boasts more than 20 million monthly listeners on Spotify and more than 84 million subscribers on YouTube.The band has also collaborated withCardi BandDua Lipa.In 2021, South Korea’s then-President Moon Jae-in thanked the girl band for helping elevate K-pop to the world stage.This year,the group will make history when they become the first K-pop group to headline Coachella.
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BLACKPINK
BLACKPINK.Scott Dudelson/Getty
Watch out, world! The four-woman South Korean girl band, comprised of members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa, won’t stop short of world domination. The fearsome foursome has smashed multiple records since getting together in 2016, setting Guinness World Records for the most-watched music videos within 24 hour of release on YouTube with their videos for “Kill This Love” in 2019 and “How You Like That” in 2020, per theorganization.
BLACKPINK is also the highest-charting Korean girl group on the Billboard Hot 100, shooting to no. 13 in 2020 for their song “Ice Cream” withSelena Gomez,Billboardreported. Commanding a loyal fanbase across the internet, Blackpink boasts more than 20 million monthly listeners on Spotify and more than 84 million subscribers on YouTube.The band has also collaborated withCardi BandDua Lipa.
In 2021, South Korea’s then-President Moon Jae-in thanked the girl band for helping elevate K-pop to the world stage.
This year,the group will make history when they become the first K-pop group to headline Coachella.
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Mickey Guyton
Mickey Guyton.Kevin Mazur/Getty/Roc Nation
The song rocketed to the top of Spotify’s Hot Country List, and scored Guyton, 39, her first Grammy nomination – making her the first Black female solo artist to earn a Grammy nomination in a country category. The “Better Than You Left Me” singer made history again at theAcademy of Country Music Awardsin 2021, becoming the first Black woman to ever host the show.
Guyton’s red-hot star continues to rise, and shesang the national anthemat Super Bowl LVI in 2022.
Speaking withPEOPLEabout her historic Grammy nomination, Guyton said she was determined to ensure she was “not the last” Black woman to receive the honor.
“I have a responsibility to hold the door open for other women of color,” Guyton said. “Another 40 years can’t pass without change.”
For July 4, 2022, Guyton wastapped to host the 42nd annual national Independence Day celebration, broadcast live on PBS from Washington D.C. which she told PEOPLE was “absolutely a real honor.”
14of 14Selena GomezImage Group LA via Getty ImagesThe star, who broke out on Disney Channel’sWizards of Waverly Place,has enchanted fans since launching a music career in 2009. Gomez, 30, dropped three albums with her former band,Selena Gomez& The Scene, all of which hit the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart, perBillboard.Striking out solo a few years later, Gomez’s three albums that followed –Stars Dance(2013),Revival(2015) andRare(2020) — all debuted at No. 1.Gomez is themost-followed woman on Instagramwith a whopping 392 million followers; on Spotify, she has drawn a following of more than 355 million monthly listeners.In celebration of her Latin heritage, Gomez dropped her first Spanish-language project with the EPRevelaciónin March 2021. The record netted her a Latin Music Award for favorite video and a Grammy nomination (her first!) for best Latin pop album at the 2022 ceremony.As someone in the spotlight since she was a teenager, Gomez has beenopen about her struggles with depressionand powerfully uses her platform to shed light on the importance of caring for one’s mental health.While launching herinclusive makeup line, Rare Beauty, in September 2021, she committed to raising$100 million in the next 10 yearsto provide mental health resources for underserved communities.“It can take a toll on you, for sure. We’re not all a certain way, and we’re not meant to be,” Gomez toldPEOPLEin December 2020 of the pressure to be perfect. “It’s fair to say that I am1000 percent on the journeywith the consumers. It’s not easy for everybody, and I want people to know they’re not alone.“More recently, Gomez has starred on Hulu’sOnly Murders in the Buildingwith Martin Short and Steve Martin — which hasa third season officially underway.
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Selena Gomez
Image Group LA via Getty Images
The star, who broke out on Disney Channel’sWizards of Waverly Place,has enchanted fans since launching a music career in 2009. Gomez, 30, dropped three albums with her former band,Selena Gomez& The Scene, all of which hit the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart, perBillboard.Striking out solo a few years later, Gomez’s three albums that followed –Stars Dance(2013),Revival(2015) andRare(2020) — all debuted at No. 1.
Gomez is themost-followed woman on Instagramwith a whopping 392 million followers; on Spotify, she has drawn a following of more than 355 million monthly listeners.
In celebration of her Latin heritage, Gomez dropped her first Spanish-language project with the EPRevelaciónin March 2021. The record netted her a Latin Music Award for favorite video and a Grammy nomination (her first!) for best Latin pop album at the 2022 ceremony.
As someone in the spotlight since she was a teenager, Gomez has beenopen about her struggles with depressionand powerfully uses her platform to shed light on the importance of caring for one’s mental health.
While launching herinclusive makeup line, Rare Beauty, in September 2021, she committed to raising$100 million in the next 10 yearsto provide mental health resources for underserved communities.
“It can take a toll on you, for sure. We’re not all a certain way, and we’re not meant to be,” Gomez toldPEOPLEin December 2020 of the pressure to be perfect. “It’s fair to say that I am1000 percent on the journeywith the consumers. It’s not easy for everybody, and I want people to know they’re not alone.”
More recently, Gomez has starred on Hulu’sOnly Murders in the Buildingwith Martin Short and Steve Martin — which hasa third season officially underway.
source: people.com
