Destiny's Child was the biggest girl group of the 2000s

When Beyoncé had a last name

Before she was the mononymous superstar, Beyoncé Knowles was one-fourth of Destiny’s Child, the biggest girl group of the 2000s. This oral history of the group’s early days delves into their first hit and why two members were suddenly dismissed after the release of the group’s second album. Read it here.

The ‘90s saw a resurgence of the girl group

The ‘90s saw a resurgence of the girl group, with acts like TLC, the Spice Girls, and Destiny’s Child turning the model on its head. While still strongly influenced by the ‘50s and ‘60s girl groups, these acts also worked in hip-hop and dance music. Most significantly, they emphasized female empowerment—or “girl power”—rather than adolescent yearning.

Beyoncé's 2018 headlining set is among the festival's most famous

The singer's admirers dubbed the performance "Beychella"—which included a full marching band and a reunited Destiny's Child. It was a symbol-laden commentary on the significance of Beyoncé's status as the first Black woman to headline the festival.

Hear the first classic girl group record: the Chantels’ ‘Maybe’

While there were all-female vocal groups before the Chantels, most critics consider the group’s 1957 single “Maybe” to be the first record of the classic girl group sound because it established the model’s foundational elements: a mid-tempo backbeat, soaring harmonies, and yearning lyrics.

A legendary rock writer ranks the greatest girl group records

Greil Marcus is considered one of the greatest American rock writers of all time, providing a literary legitimacy to rock ‘n’ roll when it was still considered mere pop culture. This 1975 essay on the great girl group records is the perfect example, offering a thought-provoking analysis of the era’s definitive singles.

'Where Did Our Love Go?' was the first of 12 number-one singles for the Supremes

Motown brought more soul and R&B into the girl group formula with acts like the Marvelettes and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. Its biggest success, though, was the Supremes, who scored their first hit in 1964 with “Where Did Our Love Go?” They would go on to be the most successful American group of all time.

In 2023 Taylor Swift made history having the most #1 albums of any female artist

Taylor Swift is as much a businesswoman and a marketer as she is a successful musician and performer, all of which has helped her become one of the biggest entertainment stars of the modern era.

The best female rappers of all time

Hip-hop has too many incredible female MCs to name, but this list does an admirable job of ranking the 25 greatest. Along the way, it breaks down how ‘80s artists like MC Lyte and Queen Latifah paved the way for ‘90s innovators like Missy Elliott and Lauryn Hill and more contemporary names like Doechii and Micki Minaj.

Blackpink are the most followed female group on Spotify

The widespread popularity of the four-piece girl group Blackpink has built a large community of fans—called Blink—and proven the success of unconventional marketing strategies. Instead of producing a wealth of content and new material, Blackpink releases albums slowly, building tension for their fans. During their musical breaks, the women continue to build on their icon status, working with luxury brands like Chanel or even guest-starring in major American TV shows like “The Idol.”

In 2025, Beyoncé finally took home the album of the year award

Beyoncé has the most individual Grammy wins, but for many years, she never won the coveted album of the year prize, leading to much rancor among her fan base. That changed in 2025 with her album "Cowboy Carter," which took home the top honor.

Hip-hop gained significant popularity in the 21st century

Although hip-hop and rap music were popular in the ‘80s and ‘90s, it was ubiquitous in the early 2000s, with 20 songs in the Billboard top 10 in 2003 alone. The surge was due in no small part to Jay-Z and Eminem, who were the biggest names in the genre.

The undefeated 1996 Olympic squad is one of the greatest teams ever

With stars like Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, and Rebecca Lobo, the 1996 US Women’s Basketball Team is considered one of the greatest women’s basketball teams ever assembled. They went 52-0 in pre-Olympic competition and 8-0 during their gold medal run.

The most popular American baby names by decade

In 1998, the Social Security Administration began ranking the top 1,000 most common first names for each year dating back to 1880. While that list has since been whittled down, Americans can still gain insight into the trending names of the decade. Whether it’s just for curiosity or to avoid more common choices, check out this list of popular names from the past century.

Why Robyn's 'Dancing on My Own' became an anthem

Robyn's "Dancing on My Own," was a low-key hit when it was released in 2010, but it's become an anthem in the time since then, influencing artists like Lorde and Charli xcx and inspiring an iconic scene on HBO's "Girls." This article breaks down why that is, studying the song's beats per minute, which match humans' typical walking pace, and the queer experience reflected in its lyrics.

Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' is the longest-running No. 1 single

In 2025, the 1994 track spent 20 weeks atop Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. The song has been a popular Christmas number since its release, but streaming has elevated it to a perennial chart-topper: Every time someone plays the song on a service like Spotify (something that’s likely to happen every holiday season), they’re effectively casting a vote for it to hit the chart.

Chris Stapleton's 'Tennessee Whiskey' is the best-selling country song of all time

The 2015 track has sold over 20 million units in the US, making it the third single to be certified double diamond. (The other two are Bruno Mars' "Just the Way You Are" and Post Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower.") Stapleton's track is actually a standard that was written in 1981 and recorded by several other artists, including George Jones.

Sophia Amoruso coined the term 'girlboss' with her bestselling memoir

Sophia Amoruso turned a small eBay shop into Nasty Gal, a $250M fashion empire. Her success sparked the #Girlboss movement after her bestselling memoir, but behind the rise was a rapid fall. Leadership struggles and financial missteps led to bankruptcy in 2016.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

A technological breakthrough altered how Billboard determined what was popular

Before 1991, retail stores manually reported sales to Billboard, which then used those figures as part of its calculations for its weekly charts. In 1991, the magazine began using Nielsen SoundScan, a technology that tracked every unit sold in participating stores, providing a more accurate picture of what consumers were actually buying.

Prince's 'Sign O' the Times' was considered a major artistic milestone

The double album was an ambitious collection of songs that traversed musical styles—drawing on the emerging hip-hop records of the genre's golden age and technological experimentation—and explored social issues, including the AIDS epidemic, addiction, and violence. It would go on to be one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year and eventually be considered one of the most important in pop music history.

'Harry Potter' dominance led The New York Times to create a new bestseller list

In 2000, The New York Times introduced a separate bestseller list for children's books after Harry Potter titles occupied top spots on the main list for more than a year.

Today's money-making influencers might not have existed without the 'mommy bloggers'

"Mommy bloggers" chronicled the realities of their lives with kids on blogs in the early 2000s. Many eventually made some serious ad dollars too.

How the Wu-Tang Clan built a hip-hop empire

“Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)” is considered one of the greatest rap albums of all time, but it was just the start of a career that would eventually include dozens of solo albums, a clothing brand, and a video game. This retrospective breaks down how the Staten Island group made it happen.

The Big Three consulting firms are McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain & Company

Some also refer to this group as “MBB.” As a nearly century-old company that’s well known for its prestige, McKinsey has some famous alumni—including Chelsea Clinton and Sheryl Sandberg. The other two consulting firms in the Big Three have employed some famous faces over the years, too.

The 2017 Women's March was one of the largest protests in the Mall's history

Held the day after Donald Trump's inauguration, the 2017 Women's March drew an estimated 470,000 to 500,000 people to Washington, DC, and 3 million to 5 million nationwide. It is widely regarded as the largest single-day protest in US history.

Dot-com companies paid $44M for Super Bowl ads in 2000

During the 2000 Super Bowl game, 17 dot-com companies paid $44M total for ads. Just the next year, only three dot-com companies ran ads in the game. The significant drop reflects just how hard the crash hit dot-com companies and how unsustainable the businesses were.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

Brian Wilson wrote the Beach Boys' 'Don't Worry Baby' for the Ronettes, but the legendary girl group rejected it.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

One disco producer saw 'Star Wars' four times on its opening weekend and was so inspired that he recorded the album 'Star Wars and Other Intergalactic Funk,' which produced a chart-topping single.

One of the most famous portraits ever taken is 'Afghan Girl' (1984) by Steve McCurry, yet the subject Sharbat Gula went much of her life without being identified or benefitting from the image's success.

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-2016.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.