Mimi holds the record for most #1 singles for a solo artist (18) and in 2022 was inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame because unlike Elvis and a lot of other flaky performers, Carey actually co-writes her songs. She also served as an influence to a whole generation of talent, including Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and the like. Sure, she’s been known to phone it in when she performs these days, but when you work as hard as she did for 25 years and are as successful as she’s been, just physically showing up at a concert is all you need to do.
5. Taylor Swift
Swift is a rare artist who doesn’t just write her own music, every song that she has penned has purpose and meaning. If you had a checklist of all the things she’s accomplished already, you’d probably run out of paper. She has sold more than 200 million albums, was named Billboard’s Woman of the Decade, her concerts are among the highest-grossing ever, and she holds 58 Guinness World Records. She also made Kayne West mad enough that he once had to disrupt her Grammy acceptance speech. So there’s that too!
