So when was Bey's peak?

[OmgSum1Actually 3,041]

4 hours ago, Sky del Blue said:

2016 Gaga

Hopefully

[Brian Ryan 1,468]

She has not peaked yet in almost 20 years. You could say Lady Gaga peaked with BTW. I think that's rushing to things. Every artist has that day when eventually people stop buying their music and just listen to their favorites. I don't see that happening to B anytime soon. Every era of hers was successful. Everyone is talking about Lemonade and buying it. Her first album as a lead singer in Destiny's Child was in 1998 and the home girl is still here. Slaying with sales in a market where overall people are not buying music. Now she's embarking on another solo tour. Critical acclaim of her album. Undoubtedly, they're are more grammys coming her way. You are crazy. lol

[Wanderlust 96]

I don't know if we've seen her peak yet because I think there's better things to come. She's going to be an icon for sure! 

[StrawberryBlond 14,819]

It's a tricky one. For me, I judge most of it on defining hits and how they've impacted the public (not the fans) and not much else as the majority of the world won't buy the album or go to the tour, so the only thing there is to impact is the singles. Her debut album was her most successful as a full body of work, but honestly, only 2 singles went on to have a cultural impact years later (Crazy In Love and Naughty Girl) and everything else is pretty much forgotten now. B'Day only had 1 impactful single (Irreplaceable) but although it wasn't a high charter or an official single, Listen is certainly well remembered too (I honestly don't think Beautiful Liar is remembered as well as fans would have it). 4 didn't have any impactful singles. Beyonce maybe had Drunk In Love being that one, but it's too early to say if it is one of her most recognisable songs. And we don't know anything from Lemonade yet. So, I'd say Sasha Fierce was her peak. Usually, she only has 2 impactful singles, tops, per album, but this one provided her with 3 - If I Were A Boy, Single Ladies and Halo, 3 undeniably massively career defining hits that are still remembered and covered to this day and are some of the first songs we think of when we think of Beyonce. This was also the era where she did Telephone with Gaga and when she performed At Last at Obama's inauguration, so she was also getting promo from songs that weren't her own too. So, I'd say her peak was Sasha Fierce.

Problem is, she's dropping this idea of singles defining her albums now so this is what's going to make the true success of her latest and future eras hard to judge when we look back on them. I know she knows that she's not much of a single seller but to just give up on singles completely seems a bit much. This is pop music - people are going to judge your success based on singles and judge you if you haven't had a big hit in years, whether you like it or not. I sometimes wonder if Beyonce genuinely doesn't want to make singles anymore or if she's too afraid of releasing singles that flop after what happened with 4, so she decided to just give the entire issue a full body swerve so she can't be criticised for something she didn't even try for in the first place.