The Top 10 Rihanna Songs

Welcome to Rihanna’s Navy! If you are crazy about RiRi and want to read as much as you can about the pop star, this is the site for you. Since she burst onto the music scene with her debut album, “Music of the Sun”, back in 2005, Rihanna has become one of the best-selling artists of all time. Recently, she became the youngest person in history to have thirteen different singles reach the number one spot on the “Billboard Hot 100 chart”.

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We thought we’d kick things off with a bang by making our inaugural post a ranking of Rihanna’s top 10 songs. Admittedly, this was a near impossible task, as RiRi has so many fantastic songs to choose from. To make things a bit easier on ourselves, we eliminated any song that only has Rihanna as a featured artist. Thus, without further ado, here are the top 10 Rihanna songs. Enjoy!

10 – What’s My Name? (2010)

This track, from Rihanna’s fifth studio album “Loud”, has everything you could want in a pop song. It has a catchy chorus, lyrics full of sexual innuendo, and a feature by Drake, one of the most popular rappers in the industry. Like many of Rihanna’s singles, this song reached the top spot on the charts, and was also nominated for a Grammy. The song was popular among fans and critics alike, with Jon Dolan from Rolling Stone giving it a four-star rating, claiming that “Rihanna has created a perfect little tropical storm: Over dark, humid synths and swirling snare skitters, she’s in full-on Caribbean-queen mode, dialing up her islander accent and rolling out a to-do list for any adult male seeking entrance into her chambers.”

9 – S&M (2011)

We love bad girl RiRi so it only makes sense that we love this song. “S&M” is bad girl RiRi at her best, as she sings about sex, sadomasochism, and bondage fetishes, among other things. The song is about more than Rihanna’s explicit sexual fantasies, however, with the chorus promoting personal confidence and high self-esteem. In fact, in an interview with Spin magazine, Rihanna claimed that the lyrics are about more than just sex: “I don’t think of it in a sexual way, I’m thinking metaphorically…It’s more of a thing to say that people can talk….people are going to talk about you, you can’t stop that. You just have to be that strong person and know who you are so that stuff just bounces off.” While many critics were less than pleased with the song’s strong sexual overtone, the track was a hit among fans and went triple platinum.

8 – Only Girl (In the World) (2010)

One of the things that makes Rihanna so successful is her ability to change her tone. “S&M” and “Only Girl (In the World)” have a completely different sound but are both equally amazing in their own right. This track was the lead single from Rihanna’s fifth album, “Loud”, and earned Rihanna a Grammy at the 53rd Grammy Awards in 2011. While some critics complained that the song lacked substance, the majority of reviewers praised the tune for its uptempo beat and positive message.

7 – SOS (2006)

While we admittedly love bad girl RiRi, the Rihanna of the mid 2000s produced a number of successful hits, including this one from her second album, “A Girl like Me”. This song was Rihanna’s first ever number one, topping the charts for three consecutive weeks back in 2006. “SOS” was actually originally intended for Christina Milian but she turned it down. This resulted in Def Jam Recordings giving the song to Rihanna instead. Tough break for Milian, as her poor album sales resulted in Def Jam dropping her from the label. Who knows what would have happened if Milian had stuck with “SOS”? Them the breaks.

6 – Disturbia (2008)

Enter dark Rihanna. This track was only released as the third single from Rihanna’s album “Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded”, but became one of her most popular songs, with Time magazine naming it the second best song of the summer for 2008, ahead of Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” and Usher’s “Love in This Club”. Taking a page out of Michael Jackson’s book, RiRi blends horror with pop perfectly in a song that expresses confusion and anxiety in both its lyrics and beat. If you see Rihanna in concert, expect to hear this song, as it has become a staple of Rihanna’s performance set list.

5 – Don’t Stop the Music (2007)

Staying with her “Good Girl Gone Bad” album, this song doesn’t have much in common with “Disturbia”, but may have been even more popular. It reached triple platinum and sold well over three million copies in the United States alone. Critics praised Rihanna for the hook, which sampled a line from Michael Jackson’s 1983 single “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin” (and also resulted in both artists getting sued). At the end of the day, however, this song was perfect for clubs, and became an anthem for those party-goers who never want the night to end.

4 – We Found Love (2011)

What do you get when you combine Rihanna and Calvin Harris? Maybe a Scottish-Barbadian baby. Seriously, what kind of accent would that kid have? You also get arguably the biggest hit of 2011. Rihanna’s voice is hauntingly beautiful on this track as she sings about finding love in the unlikeliest of places. Add in Harris’ trademark house music tempo and you get the recipe for the near-perfect pop song. “We Found Love” topped the charts for an incredible ten weeks, making it the longest running number-one single in 2011. The song itself is Rihanna’s most successful single to date, while the music video earned her a Grammy for “Best Short Form Music Video”. According to Harris, the song is the most successful thing he has ever done.

3 – Diamonds (2012)

The lead single from Rihanna’s seventh album, “Unapologetic”, this track topped the music charts in over 20 countries and reached quadruple platinum, selling over 7.5 million copies worldwide. All this from a song that Sia allegedly wrote in less than 15 minutes. A clear departure from the darker tone of Rihanna’s previous singles, “Diamonds” focuses on the unrelenting love between two individuals, with shining diamonds in the sky acting as a simile for the couple’s relationship. As of August 2015, “Diamonds” is also most popular music video, with over 600 million views, more than one million more than her next highest video.

2 – FourFiveSeconds (2015)

Rihanna’s eighth album hasn’t been released yet, but if this song is any indication of what’s to come, it might just be her best one yet. This track, featuring Kanye West and Paul McCartney, showcases a drastic change in Rihanna’s sound as it focuses primarily on the vocals of the artists. Considered an acoustic folk-pop song, it shot to the top of the charts in multiple countries. It was also met with much critical acclaim. Writing for Forbes magazine, music critic Hugh McIntyre states that “the song puts the spotlight on Rihanna’s vocals, highlighting them in a way that her club-ready, bombastic tunes don’t usually.” Critics also raved about the song’s music video, which was shot in black-and-white and focused entirely on the three artists, including multiple shots of them in the same frame.

1 – Umbrella (2007)

Whether you loved or hated this song, we bet you can at least sing the chorus – that’s how popular this song was. “Umbrella” beautifully showcased Rihanna’s stunning vocals and launched her even further into stardom. The song was both a commercial and critical success, with both Rolling Stone and Time ranking it third on their list of the top 100 songs in 2007. The song received multiple Grammy nominations and won the award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. To top it off, the tune comes equipped with its own special curse. Seriously, when the song reached the number one spot on the charts in 2007, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Romania all suffered from extreme weather. As the song moved down the charts, the weather improved. Don’t believe us? Check it out for yourself.

What do you think of our list? Feel free to post your own list in the comments!