SINGERS from Barbados

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Barbadian Singers of all time. This list of famous Barbadian Singers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.

1. Rihanna (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 72.25, Rihanna is the most famous Barbadian Singer.  Her biography has been translated into 136 different languages on wikipedia.

Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ree-AN-ə; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. Known for her musical experimentation and artistic reinventions, she is an influential figure in both music and fashion. Rihanna is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 250 million records. As a child, Rihanna showed interest in the arts. Signed to Def Jam Recordings, Rihanna debuted with the Caribbean-inspired records Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl Like Me (2006), both of which reached the top ten of the US Billboard 200. The albums spawned the singles "Pon de Replay" and "SOS", which peaked at numbers two and one on the US Billboard Hot 100, respectively. Adopting a more mature image, Rihanna rose to stardom and transitioned to dance-pop and R&B with the album Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) and its reissue, subtitled Reloaded (2008). The project spawned a string of successful songs, including the US number-one singles "Umbrella", "Take a Bow", and "Disturbia". After exploring darker and more personal themes on the rock-influenced record Rated R (2009), Rihanna returned to her more upbeat sound on the dance-pop album Loud (2010), incorporated R&B on Talk That Talk (2011), and topped the Billboard 200 with her synth-pop set Unapologetic (2012). After she departed from Def Jam in favor of Jay-Z's label, Roc Nation, she released the eclectic Anti (2016)—her second number-one album. These albums contained the US number-one singles "Rude Boy", "Only Girl (In the World)", "What's My Name?", "S&M", "We Found Love", "Diamonds", and "Work". Her films include Battleship (2012), Home (2015), Ocean's 8 (2018), and Smurfs (2025). Rihanna has received numerous accolades, including nine Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, and thirteen American Music Awards. She is the highest-certified female digital single artist by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has seven diamond-certified singles and fourteen number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. One of the wealthiest musicians, she was the first female musician to achieve billionaire status. Rihanna founded the nonprofit Clara Lionel Foundation, the cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty, and the fashion brand Fenty under LVMH, becoming the first Black woman to lead a luxury brand for the group. She was named an ambassador by the Government of Barbados and declared a National Hero of Barbados in 2021.

2. Shontelle (b. 1985)

With an HPI of 42.84, Shontelle is the 2nd most famous Barbadian Singer.  Her biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Shontelle Delia Layne (born 4 October 1985), known mononymously as Shontelle, is a Barbadian singer and songwriter. She released her debut album Shontelligence in 2008. Her second album, No Gravity, was released in 2010. Her singles "T-Shirt" and "Impossible" achieved international success. In 2020, Shontelle released "Remember Me".