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Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. Dubbed "Queen Bey", she is regarded as one of the most culturally significant figures of the 21st century. Over a three-decade career characterized by continuous musical reinvention, she has been credited with redefining the standards of artistry and performance in popular music. Known for her vocal ability, musical versatility, and live performances, Beyoncé is often deemed one of the most influential artists of all time.Sources for Beyoncé being one of the most influential artists of all time:
Beyoncé rose to fame in 1997 as the lead singer of Destiny's Child, one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. Her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love (2003), became one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. After Destiny's Child disbanded in 2005, Beyoncé released the funk-imbued set B'Day (2006) and later starred in the drama film Dreamgirls (2006). Her marriage to rapper Jay-Z and portrayal of Etta James in the biopic Cadillac Records (2008) influenced the album I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008), which explored pop music and electropop. The albums included the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Crazy in Love", "Baby Boy", "Check on It", "Irreplaceable", and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)".
After forming the management company Parkwood Entertainment, Beyoncé embraced traditional R&B on 4 (2011). Her Electronic music-influenced eponymous album (2013) inspired setting Friday as Global Release Day, and the eclectic Lemonade (2016), which traverses styles of rock music, country music, and blues, was the best-selling album worldwide in 2016. Her ongoing trilogy project—consisting of the LGBTQ music-inspired Dance music album Renaissance (2022) and Americana music record Cowboy Carter (2024)—has highlighted the contributions of Black pioneers to American musical and cultural history. These albums respectively spawned the U.S. number-one singles "Break My Soul" and "Texas Hold 'Em". She also voiced Nala in The Lion King (2019) and (2024).
Beyoncé is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 200 million records. She is the only female artist in history to debut all of her eight studio albums at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200. Her accolades include thirty-five Grammy Awards—the most of any individual in history—and a Peabody Award. Beyoncé is also the most awarded artist at the NAACP Image and Soul Train Music Awards. The first woman to headline an all-stadium tour, she is amongst the highest-grossing live acts of all time. Beyoncé has been listed amongst history's greatest artists by such publications as Rolling Stone and Billboard.
Beyoncé was raised within multiple religious traditions, attending both St. John's United Methodist Church and St. Mary of the Purification Catholic Church in Houston. She began her education at St. Mary's Catholic Montessori School, where she also took dance classes. Her vocals were discovered by her dance instructor, Darlette Johnson, who began humming a song that Beyoncé completed. Beyoncé's interest in music and performing grew after she won a school talent show at the age of seven by singing John Lennon's "Imagine", outperforming older competitors aged fifteen and sixteen.
In 1990, nine-year-old Beyoncé enrolled in Parker Elementary School, a music magnet school in Houston, where she performed with the school's choir. She later attended the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and subsequently Alief Elsik High School. Beyoncé was also a member of the choir at St. John's United Methodist Church, where she sang her first solo and was a soloist for two years. Beyoncé's first job as a child was sweeping hair and occasionally performing for customers at her mother's hair salon. Retrospectively, she said that the women at the salon helped her understand beauty, healing, and the importance of service.
The group adopted the name Destiny's Child in 1997, based upon a passage in the Book of Isaiah. That year, they released their major-label debut song, "Killing Time", which appeared on for the film Men in Black. In November of that year, the group issued their debut single and first major hit, "No, No, No", followed by their self-titled debut album in February 1998. In July 1999, the group released their second studio album, The Writing's on the Wall, which peaked at number five on the U.S. Billboard 200, later achieving multi-platinum status in the country. The album spawned several successful singles, including "Bills, Bills, Bills", "Jumpin', Jumpin'", and "Say My Name". "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name" both peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. "Say My Name" earned two awards at the 2001 Grammy Awards: Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best R&B Song. The Writing's on the Wall became one of the best-selling R&B albums of all time.
Following several lineup changes, the remaining members of Destiny's Child—Beyoncé, Rowland, and Michelle Williams—recorded "Independent Women Part I" in 2000, which featured on the soundtrack of the film Charlie's Angels. The song became the group's highest-charting single, spending eleven consecutive weeks at number one in the U.S. In early 2001, while Destiny's Child was completing work on their third album, Beyoncé secured a leading role in the MTV made-for-television film , an interpretation of the 19th-century opera Carmen. Destiny's Child's third studio album, Survivor, was released in May 2001; it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 663,000 copies in its first week. The album produced the singles "Bootylicious" and the title track, which peaked at number one and two in the United States, respectively. "Survivor" earned the group a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Following the release of their holiday album, 8 Days of Christmas (2001), Destiny's Child announced a hiatus to allow each member to pursue solo careers.
On June 14, 2003, Beyoncé premiered songs from her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love, during her first solo concert, which was broadcast as a pay-per-view television special. The album was released on June 24, 2003, following the solo releases of her Destiny's Child bandmates Williams and Rowland. Dangerously in Love debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 317,000 copies in its first week. The album's lead single, "Crazy in Love", featuring Jay-Z, became Beyoncé's first number-one single as a solo artist in the U.S. The single "Baby Boy" also reached number one, while "Me, Myself and I" and "Naughty Girl" both reached the top five. The album earned Beyoncé a then record-tying five awards at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Contemporary R&B Album and Best R&B Song for "Crazy in Love". She starred alongside Cuba Gooding Jr. in the musical comedy The Fighting Temptations (2003), which box-office bomb. Beyoncé portrayed a single mother and the love interest of Gooding's character. Beyoncé performed several songs for the film's soundtrack, including its two singles, "Fighting Temptation" and "Summertime".
In November 2003, Beyoncé embarked on the Dangerously in Love Tour across Europe and later joined Missy Elliott and Alicia Keys for the Verizon Ladies First Tour in North America. On February 1, 2004, she performed "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States, at the Super Bowl XXXVIII. Beyoncé had planned to produce a follow-up to Dangerously in Love using unreleased material recorded; this was put on hold so she could concentrate on recording Destiny's Child's final album, Destiny Fulfilled. Destiny Fulfilled was released on November 15, 2004, and peaked at number two on the Billboard 200; it included the singles "Lose My Breath" and "Soldier", both of which peaked within the top five in the U.S. In 2005, Destiny's Child embarked on a global concert tour titled Destiny Fulfilled... and Lovin' It. The group announced that they would disband at the end of the tour. The group released their first compilation album, #1's, in October 2005 and were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March 2006.
Beyoncé's second solo album, B'Day, was released internationally on September 4, 2006, to coincide with her twenty-fifth birthday. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with 541,000 copies sold in its first week. The album's lead single, "Déjà Vu", featuring Jay-Z, reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100, while the second single, "Irreplaceable", topped the chart for ten weeks. The subsequent singles of B'Day—including "Ring the Alarm", "Get Me Bodied", and "Green Light"—each saw moderate chart success. At the 2007 Grammy Awards, B'Day received five nominations, including Best Contemporary R&B Album and Best R&B Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Déjà Vu". At the 2008 show, the album garnered more nominations, including Record of the Year for "Irreplaceable".
Beyoncé's first acting role in 2006 was in the commercially successful but critically panned comedy film The Pink Panther. Later that year, she starred in Dreamgirls, a cinematic adaptation of Dreamgirls; Beyoncé portrayed a pop singer modeled after Diana Ross. In April 2007, Beyoncé embarked on the Beyoncé Experience, her first worldwide concert tour, which visited 97 venues and grossed over $24 million. At the same time, B'Day was re-released with additional songs, including her duet with Shakira "Beautiful Liar", which peaked at number three in the U.S. In December 2007, Beyoncé and Jay-Z became engaged.
I Am... Sasha Fierce included Beyoncé's fifth number one on the Billboard Hot 100, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", as well as the UK chart-topping single, "If I Were a Boy". "Halo" became her longest-running Hot 100 single at the time, and its success in the U.S. helped Beyoncé attain more top-ten singles on the list than any other woman during the 2000s. Parodied and imitated around the world, the "Single Ladies" music video was described by the Toronto Star as the "first major dance craze" of the Internet age. At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, the video won three categories, including Video of the Year. In March 2009, Beyoncé embarked on the I Am... Tour, her second headlining worldwide concert tour, grossing $119.5 million.
Beyoncé portrayed blues singer Etta James in the Musical film biopic Cadillac Records (2008), garnering several nominations including an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress. In the psychological thriller Obsessed (2009), Beyoncé played Sharon Charles, a woman protecting her family from her husband's stalker, opposite Ali Larter and Idris Elba. The film received negative reviews from critics, with Rotten Tomatoes' consensus calling it "instantly predictable and instantly forgettable". It performed strongly at the U.S. box office, earning $68 million on a $20 million budget, surpassing Cadillac Records by $60 million.
At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2010, Beyoncé received ten nominations—both for I Am... Sasha Fierce and for her work in film soundtracks—tying with Lauryn Hill for most Grammy nominations in a single year by a female artist. Beyoncé won six of those nominations, including Best Contemporary R&B Album for I Am... Sasha Fierce and Song of the Year for "Single Ladies", breaking a record she previously tied in 2004 for the most Grammy awards won in a single night by a female artist. Beyoncé provided vocals on Lady Gaga's single "Telephone", from the latter's extended play The Fame Monster (2009). It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100.
In April 2011, during a photoshoot in Paris for her upcoming album cover, Beyoncé discovered she was unexpectedly pregnant. She initially kept her pregnancy private. Her fourth studio album, 4, was released on June 24, 2011, in the U.S. and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 310,000 copies in its first week. This marked her fourth consecutive number-one album in the United States. 4 marked Beyoncé's first project of creative control since she split from her father, and was conceived as a traditional R&B and soul music record that stood apart from contemporary popular music. Five of its singles—"Run the World (Girls)", "Party", "Countdown", "Best Thing I Never Had", and "Love On Top"—reached the Billboard Hot 100, with the latter two peaking at number sixteen and twenty respectively.
On June 26, 2011, Beyoncé became the first solo female artist in over two decades to headline the main Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival. The performance received praise from critics, with some outlets praising her growth as a live performer. In August 2011, Beyoncé and Jay-Z attended the MTV Video Music Awards, in which the former performed "Love On Top" and revealed her pregnancy. Her announcement contributed to the ceremony becoming the most-watched broadcast in MTV history at the time, drawing 12.4 million viewers. The moment also set a Guinness World Record for the most tweets per second for a single event, with 8,868 tweets per second, and "Beyonce pregnant" became the most Googled phrase during the week of August 29, 2011.
In late 2011, Beyoncé headlined four exclusive shows at New York's Roseland Ballroom titled 4 Intimate Nights with Beyoncé, performing songs from 4. That month, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America after shipping one million copies to retail stores. The album reached one billion Spotify streams on February 5, 2018, making Beyoncé the first female artist to have three of her albums surpass one billion streams on the platform. On January 7, 2012, Beyoncé gave birth to her first daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, in New York City. In June 2012, she at Revel Atlantic City's Ovation Hall to celebrate the resort's opening, her first performances since giving birth to her daughter.
On December 13, 2013, Beyoncé surprise release her eponymous fifth studio album on the iTunes Store without prior announcement or promotion. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, marking her fifth consecutive U.S. number-one debut and making her the first woman in the chart's history to achieve this milestone with her first five studio albums. Beyoncé received widespread critical acclaim and was a commercial success, selling one million digital copies globally within six days. Musically rooted in electro-R&B, the album explored darker, more personal themes than her previous work, including bulimia, postnatal depression, and the emotional complexities of marriage and motherhood. A visual album, the album's music videos were largely inspired by those of Michael Jackson's album Thriller (1982). Beyoncé is credited with helping popularize digital releases, as well as surprise and visual album formats; its release influenced the industry's adoption of Friday as Global Release Day. The lead single, "Drunk in Love", featuring Jay-Z, peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
Beyoncé sold 2.3 million units worldwide, making it the tenth best-selling album of 2013 and the twentieth best-selling album of 2014. At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, Beyoncé received six nominations and won three: Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for "Drunk in Love", and Best Surround Sound Album for Beyoncé. In April 2014, Beyoncé and Jay-Z—known collectively by their stage name the Carters—announced their first co-headlining stadium tour called the On the Run Tour. On August 24, 2014, she received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the MTV Video Music Awards, and won three additional honors: Best Video with a Social Message and Best Cinematography for "Pretty Hurts", and Best Collaboration for "Drunk in Love".
The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making Beyoncé the first artist in Billboard history to have her first six studio albums debut atop the chart. All twelve tracks from Lemonade entered the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first female artist to chart twelve songs simultaneously. With 115 million streams in its first week, Lemonade became the most-streamed album in a single week by a female artist on Tidal. It was the third best-selling album in the U.S. in 2016, with 1.554 million copies sold, and the best-selling album globally that year, with 2.5 million copies sold. Beyoncé embarked on the Formation World Tour from April to October 2016, featuring stops across North America and Europe. It marked the first all-stadium tour by a female artist and received Tour of the Year at the 44th American Music Awards.
Several music publications included Lemonade amongst their lists of best albums of 2016. The album's visuals earned eleven nominations at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards—the most Beyoncé had ever received in a single year—and won eight awards, including Video of the Year for the "Formation" music video. The eight wins made Beyoncé the most-awarded artist in MTV Video Music Awards history with twenty-four total awards, surpassing Madonna's previous record of twenty wins. In January 2017, Beyoncé was announced as a headliner for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which would have made her only the second female artist to headline the event. However, on February 23, it was confirmed she would no longer perform as a result of her second pregnancy. Festival organizers later announced she would headline the 2018 edition instead.
At the 59th Grammy Awards in February 2017, Lemonade led with nine nominations, including Album of the Year, and Record and Song of the Year for "Formation". Beyoncé won two awards: Best Urban Contemporary Album for Lemonade and Best Music Video for "Formation". Shortly before the Grammys, on February 1, 2017, Beyoncé announced on Instagram that she was expecting twins. The post garnered over 6.3 million likes within a few hours, setting a world record for the most-liked image on the platform at the time. On July 13, she shared the first photo of herself with the twins, confirming they were born a month earlier on June 13. That post became the second most-liked on Instagram, following her original pregnancy announcement. The twins—a daughter, Rumi, and a son, Sir—were born via caesarean section in California. Later that year, Beyoncé featured on Eminem's "Walk on Water" and on the remix of Ed Sheeran's "Perfect Duet"; the latter reached number one in the U.S., marking her sixth chart-topper as a solo artist.
On June 6, 2018, Beyoncé and Jay-Z launched their On the Run II Tour. After its final show, the couple released their first collaborative studio album, Everything Is Love, which debuted at number two in the U.S. with 123,000 album-equivalent units. It spawned the single "Apeshit", which peaked at number thirteen in the U.S. On December 2, 2018, Beyoncé and Jay-Z headlined the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. , a documentary and concert film chronicling the 2018 Coachella performances, was released on Netflix on April 17, 2019, alongside . After the release, it was reported that Beyoncé signed a $60 million Netflix deal covering three projects, including Homecoming. The film earned six nominations at the 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2019.
Beyoncé starred as the voice of Nala in the 2019 remake of The Lion King, released in July that year. She also contributed to the film's soundtrack, performing a remade version of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Beyoncé's original song "Spirit" was the lead single from both the official soundtrack and , a companion album she curated and produced. Incorporating gqom and Afrobeat, the album featured African producers to create The Gift, given the film's African setting. In September, ABC aired , a surprise documentary detailing the album's creation.
Released in April 2020, the remix of Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage", featuring Beyoncé, peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Beyoncé's seventh chart-topper as a soloist. On July 31, 2020, she released Black Is King on Disney+. A visual album inspired by The Lion King: The Gift, it was written, directed, and executive produced by Beyoncé. At the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021, she led with nine nominations and won four awards, making her the most-awarded singer and female individual in Grammy history, and the second most-awarded individual overall. That same year, she co-wrote and recorded "Be Alive" for the biographical sports drama film King Richard, earning her first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 94th Academy Awards.
Renaissance was released on July 29, 2022, to critical acclaim. The album features Black music dance music styles such as disco and House music and largely pays homage to the historically overlooked contributions of Black LGBTQ music pioneers to those genres. It explored themes of escapism, hedonism, and self-expression. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making Beyoncé the first artist to have their first seven studio albums debut at number one in the United States. All of its sixteen songs charted on the Hot 100, with its second single, "Cuff It", peaking at number six. Upon the album's release, Beyoncé revealed that it was the first installment of a trilogy developed and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic—a period she described as her "most creative".
On January 21, 2023, Beyoncé gave her first full concert in over four years at a private event in Dubai, performing for an audience of influencers and journalists. She was reportedly paid $24 million for the show, which sparked criticism due to the United Arab Emirates' laws criminalizing homosexuality. Later in the year, she headlined the Renaissance World Tour across North America and Europe, which became the highest-grossing tour by a female artist at the time. In November 2023, she released , a documentary concert that chronicled the tour's creation. She wrote, directed, and produced the film in partnership with AMC Theatres. At the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, Beyoncé won four of her nine nominations, bringing her total to thirty-two wins and making her the most awarded artist in Grammy history.
On February 11, 2024, Beyoncé announced the second installment of her trilogy project and released its first two singles, "Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages"; "Texas Hold 'Em" became her ninth solo number-one on the Billboard Hot 100. She announced the album's title, Cowboy Carter, on March 12 and released it on March 29. An Americana music-inspired record, Cowboy Carter highlights the historically overlooked contributions of Black pioneers to country music. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with Beyoncé becoming the only female artist to debut her first eight studio albums at number one in the U.S. The album's third single, "II Most Wanted", featuring Miley Cyrus, debuted at number six in the U.S. In July 2024, NBC released two promotional commercials featuring Beyoncé for their coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Beyoncé returned as Nala in (2024), a prequel to the 2019 remake. In December 2024, she headlined the first-ever NFL Christmas Gameday Halftime Show, debuting songs from Cowboy Carter. At the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in 2025, she became the first Black artist in 50 years to win in the country categories, and the first Black artist ever to win Best Country Album. She also won Album of the Year, the first Black woman to do so since Lauryn Hill in 1999. Beyoncé launched the Cowboy Carter Tour on April 28, with dates scheduled through July 26 across the United States and Europe.
Beyoncé's music is primarily R&B, Pop music, and hip-hop, while also incorporating elements of Soul music and funk music. With continuous musical reinventions, publications such as Vox and Billboard have described Beyoncé as a musical "chameleon". Expanding beyond the hip-hop and R&B sound she featured in her previous two albums— Dangerously in Love and B'Day— I Am... Sasha Fierce incorporates a 1980s electropop- and Europop-imbued sound, featuring instruments such as and the acoustic guitar. With the album 4, she expanded her use of soul and hip-hop compared to earlier work. Drawing from 1970s funk, 1980s pop, and 1990s soul influences, 4 featured elements of hard rock, reggae, and adult contemporary. Minimal music inspired Beyoncé's self-titled album, which employed emotive falsetto and often braggadocio, using fragmented song structures that rejected traditional pop formats in favor of Ambient music. Lemonade incorporated a broader range of genres, including rock music, country music, gospel music, reggae, and blues.
The Lion King: The Gift was conceived as a record rooted in cultural celebration. As such, Beyoncé recruited artists and producers from across the African continent and explored genres such as Afropop and gqom. Renaissance delved into disco music, ballroom culture, and 1990s club sounds. It prominently used four-on-the-floor beats, pulsating synths, and interpolations of queer and Black dance music pioneers. She conceived Cowboy Carter as a multi-genre reclamation of Americana music. The country and gospel-tinged record features instrumentation such as the accordion, harmonica, acoustic guitar, and banjo. Although she mainly records in English, Beyoncé has also released Spanish-language tracks for Irreemplazable (2007)—a Spanish reissue of songs from B'Day.
Early in Beyoncé's career with Destiny's Child, her lyrics often focused on themes of female empowerment, as seen in songs like "Independent Women" and "Survivor". When her relationship with Jay-Z began, her songwriting style shifted to include more romantic and relationship-focused content with songs such as "Cater 2 U". Dangerously in Love explored sexual and romantic themes, with the follow-up B'Day delving into Black women's personal and spiritual discontent, fulfillment, self-worth, and agency. I Am... Sasha Fierce examined themes of love, heartbreak, and the tension between Beyoncé's self and her alter ego; more personal themes characterized 4 and Beyonce, which delved into marriage, monogamy, and intimacy.
Beginning with Lemonade, Beyoncé began exploring historical and political themes.Sources for Beyoncé's albums after Beyonce (2013) exploring history and politics:
Storytelling and poetry inspired Lemonade, a record that discusses Black womanhood and reconciliation. Scholar Emily J. Lordi described the album as a "cinematic and sonic Afrodiasporic journey from betrayal to redemption". Renaissance and Cowboy Carter were conceived to highlight the historically overlooked and marginalized contributions of Black pioneers to American musical and cultural history. The former pays tribute to the influence of Black queer artists in shaping dance music, while the latter centers on the role of Black people in the development of country music.
Critics and music artists have analyzed Beyoncé's distinctive style of songwriting. Caroline Polachek, who worked on "No Angel", praised her ability to make connections between ideas, and called her a "genius" writer and producer. While working on songwriting with Beyoncé, record producer Sean Garrett described her as "very particular about her brand", stating that she rejects anything that feels off-brand. Author Z. B. Hill praised her lyrics for capturing "the story of a real woman's life" and analyzed that her emotions inspired the creation of new lyrical content. Dubbed a "meticulous curator" by The New Yorker, some academics have studied her as a musical archivist, while others have likened her storytelling to that of a modern-day griot.
Beyoncé praised Madonna for her music and roles as a businesswoman. She has cited Mariah Carey's vocal style—especially on her song "Vision of Love"—as an early influence that inspired her to practice vocal runs as a child. Other artists that Beyoncé has mentioned as inspirations are Rachelle Ferrell, Aaliyah, Prince, Janet Jackson, Lauryn Hill, Sade Adu, Donna Summer, Fairuz, Mary J. Blige, Selena, Anita Baker, and Toni Braxton.
Beyoncé has cited Michelle Obama—44th First Lady of the United States—as a personal inspiration. She described Oprah Winfrey as "the definition of inspiration and a strong woman". Beyoncé has stated that her husband, rapper Jay-Z, inspires her, and she has praised his lyrical talent and the challenges he has overcome. She expressed admiration for artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, stating that she wants to emulate his lyrical and raw artistic traits in her music. She has named Ross and Cher as some of her fashion inspirations.
Caitlin Johnson of CBS News described Beyoncé as "sexy, seductive, and provocative" when performing on stage. Beyoncé created the alter ego Sasha Fierce to separate her stage persona from her personal attributes. She characterized her persona as "too aggressive, too strong, too sassy and too sexy", adding that she is not like her in real life at all. Sasha Fierce was created during the production of "Crazy in Love" and was introduced with the release of her third solo studio album, I Am... Sasha Fierce, in 2008. By February 2010, Beyoncé stated she no longer needed the alter ego, having grown more comfortable with herself. In May 2012, she announced Sasha Fierce would return for her Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live performances later that month.
Beyoncé has been described by critics as having sex appeal. Writing for Rolling Stone, music journalist Touré noted that she became a "crossover sex symbol" after the release of Dangerously in Love (2003). Scholar Adrienne Trier-Bieniek argued that Beyoncé's fair skin, ethnically ambiguous features, and "good" hair are central to her "lionization as a sex symbol, a specter, and a beauty icon within the Black community". The media often used the term ""—a portmanteau of "buttocks" and "delicious"—in reference to her curvaceous figure; the phrase was popularized by Destiny's Child's 2001 single of the same name. In 2004, "bootylicious" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary, defined as "(of a woman) sexually attractive".
Known for her "diva" persona, Beyoncé has been nicknamed "Queen Bey" (also spelled "Queen B") by the media. Her fanbase is known as the "BeyHive", having previously been known as "The Beyontourage" until 2011. The Guardian Kuba Shand-Baptiste called them "the most dedicated group of superfans ... on the planet". Time magazine named Beyoncé one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013, 2014, and 2023. She occupied the sixth place for the magazine's 2016 Person of the Year. She was named the "World's Most Beautiful Woman" by People and the "Hottest Female Singer of All Time" by Complex in 2012. In January 2013, GQ placed Beyoncé on its cover, featuring her atop its "100 Sexiest Women of the 21st Century" list. VH1 listed her at number one on its 2013 list of the "100 Sexiest Artists".
Beyoncé's lighter skin tone and styling choices have drawn criticism, with some arguing that it may perpetuate Eurocentrism beauty standards and contribute to issues of colorism, particularly regarding the underrepresentation of darker-skinned Black women in mainstream media. Emmett Price, a professor of music at Northeastern University, wrote in 2007 that he thinks race plays a role in many of these criticisms, saying white celebrities who dress similarly attract fewer comments. In 2008, L'Oreal denied accusations of whitening her skin in their Feria hair color advertisements, and in 2013, Beyoncé criticized H&M for their proposed "retouching" of promotional images of her, requesting only "natural pictures be used". When performing, Beyoncé uses different fashion styles that coordinate with the music she is singing. In 2007, she became the second African American woman to appear on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue magazine, and People recognized her as the best-dressed celebrity.
Forbes placed Beyoncé and Jay-Z at number one on the "World's Highest-Paid Celebrity Couples" list, collectively earning $78 million and $107.5 million in 2012 and 2016, respectively. The couple made it into 2011's Guinness Book of World Records as the "highest-earning power couple" for collectively earning $122 million in 2009. They officially became a billion-dollar couple in 2017, when Forbes estimated a combined net worth of $1.16 billion.
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Beyoncé has revolutionized the music industry, transforming the Record producer, distribution, promotion, and consumption of music. She has been credited with reviving the album format in an era dominated by singles and Streaming media, with albums becoming increasingly cohesive and narrative-led. Beyoncé redefined how music is released and marketed by popularizing the surprise album in 2013, reorienting the music market to cohesive albums and unconventional promotional rollouts; surprise albums became a common practice in the 2010s and 2020s. She is also recognized for reviving the music video as an art form and popularizing the visual album format. Beyoncé's impact on the music industry led to the Global Release Day being moved to Friday.
Beyoncé's use of staccato rap-singing and chopped and re-pitched vocals became defining features of music in the 21st century. Her work transcends traditional Music genre boundaries, creating new artistic standards that shaped contemporary music and set the precedent for music artists to move between and beyond genre confines. She helped renew subgenres of music such as R&B, country music, Dance music, house music, and Afrobeats. Beyoncé is also known for transforming concert tours into cultural and artistic events. She has also significantly influenced socio-political matters, using her platform to advocate for women's empowerment and social justice. Critics credit her with significantly influencing political conversations and movements, such as fourth-wave feminism and Black Lives Matter. Beyoncé's impact is studied globally through university courses, and museum exhibitions.
Beyoncé has been recognized for setting new standards for success in the modern era, with musicians from across genres, generations, and countries citing her as a major influence on their career. Taylor Swift called her a major influence, crediting her with showing other artists how to oppose industry standards and create new opportunities. Lady Gaga said Beyoncé inspired her to become a musician, while Rihanna was motivated to pursue music after watching Beyoncé. Ariana Grande said she learned to sing by mimicking artists like Beyoncé, while Adele described her as part of her artistic influence since she was a preteen. Paul McCartney and Garth Brooks have also cited Beyoncé's live performances as inspirational, with the latter recommending that both new and veteran musicians analyze these performances to improve their work.
Beyoncé popularized phrases that entered mainstream culture: "put a ring on it" (from "Single Ladies") to signify a marriage proposal; "I woke up like this" (from "Flawless"), which sparked a trend of morning selfies; and "boy, bye" (from "Sorry"), used as a way to break up with a romantic partner. In January 2012, Australian research scientist Bryan Lessard named a species of horse-fly found in North Queensland, Australia, Scaptia beyonceae, after her, due to the insect's distinctive golden hairs on its abdomen. Several of Beyoncé are found at Madame Tussauds Wax Museums in major cities around the world. In Minnesota, May 23 is designated as "Beyoncé Day" to mark the same day she performed the Formation World Tour in the state in 2016.
Beyoncé has won 35 —both as a solo artist and member of Destiny's Child and the Carters—making her the most honored individual by the award show. She is also the most nominated artist in Grammy Award history with 99 nominations. She set the record for the most Grammy Awards won by a female artist in one night in 2010 with six awards. Beyoncé has won 30 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), tying Taylor Swift for the most in the award show's history. In 2016, she matched Lady Gaga's 2010 record for the most VMAs won in a single night by a female artist, with eight wins. Beyoncé also has the most Soul Train Music Awards with 25 wins—21 as a solo artist and four with Destiny's Child—and is the most awarded artist in NAACP Image Awards history, earning 27 wins solo and five with Destiny's Child. At the 2011 Billboard Music Awards, she was honored with the Billboard Millennium Award. Billboard later ranked her as a soloist at number three on its 2025 "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" list and as part of Destiny's Child, which was listed at number seventeen.
For her role in Dreamgirls, Beyoncé was nominated for Best Original Song for "Listen" and Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards. Beyoncé won two awards at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2006; Best Song for "Listen" and Best Original Soundtrack for Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture. In 2001, she became the first Black woman—and only the second female lyricist overall—to win ASCAP's Pop Songwriter of the Year award. The film Lemonade won a Peabody Award in 2017. In 2022, "Be Alive" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. In June 2021, Beyoncé was honored as the Top Touring Artist of the 2010s at the Pollstar Awards. That same month, she was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame as part of its inaugural class.
In a 2013 interview with Vogue, Beyoncé stated that she considered herself "a modern-day feminist". Her self-identification incited debate about whether her feminism is aligned with older, more established feminist ideals; Annie Lennox referred to her use of the word feminist as "feminist lite". Beyoncé publicly aligned with feminism by sampling Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's 2013 TEDx speech "We should all be feminists" in "Flawless", released later that year. Adichie herself has critiqued Beyoncé's interpretation of feminism as leaning toward Heteropatriarchy ideals, noting that it places significant emphasis on the role of men, which she says diverges from her own feminist perspective. She performed at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards before a giant "Feminist" backdrop. Some critics suggest that her portrayal of empowerment tends to be individualized and commodified, with limited engagement in structural issues affecting marginalized groups. Scholar bell hooks called Beyoncé's visual representation Antifeminism and critiqued it as reinforcing Patriarchy norms through the use of sexualized imagery.
In December 2012, Beyoncé joined a coalition of celebrities in the "Demand a Plan" campaign—an initiative led by U.S. mayors to urge federal action on gun control legislation following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. In 2013, she endorsed same-sex marriage via Instagram and voiced opposition to North Carolina's Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, a law criticized for discriminating against the LGBT community. In February 2017, she supported transgender youth following Donald Trump's federal rollback of protections for transgender students in public schools.
Beyoncé has spoken against police brutality toward Black Americans. She attended a 2013 rally after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin, and featured the mothers of Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner holding photos of their deceased sons in the music video for "Freedom". Her 2016 single "Formation" was interpreted as a critique of law enforcement, though she clarified it was a celebration of her heritage. Performing the song during the 2016 Super Bowl halftime show, with dancers dressed in outfits referencing the Black Panther Party, sparked backlash from conservative figures and law enforcement groups. Beyoncé responded to the criticism by selling "Boycott Beyoncé" merchandise on her tour.
After learning about Phoenix House—a nonprofit focused on drug and alcohol rehabilitation—during the filming of Cadillac Records in 2008, Beyoncé donated her entire $4 million salary from the film to the organization. She later founded the Beyoncé Cosmetology Center, a program at Phoenix House that provides a cosmetology training course. In April 2011, Beyoncé participated in the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation's campaign against child obesity by reworking her single "Get Me Bodied". She was an ambassador for the 2012 World Humanitarian Day campaign, and took part in Gucci's 2013 "Chime for Change" initiative to promote global female empowerment.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z donated tens of thousands of dollars to post bail for Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters in Baltimore and Ferguson, and contributed to building the infrastructure needed to establish BLM chapters across the United States. In 2016 she pledged to fund ten college scholarships for students in financial need. In June 2016, she donated over $82,000 to the United Way of Genesee County to assist victims of the Flint water crisis and provided financial support for fourteen Michigan students pursuing higher education. That August, Beyoncé and Jay-Z donated $1.5 million to civil rights organizations including BLM, Hands Up United, and Trayvon Martin Foundation.
In August 2017, during Hurricane Harvey, Beyoncé launched BeyGood Houston to support those affected and donated $75,000 worth of new mattresses to survivors. Later that month, she released a remix of J Balvin and Willy William's "Mi Gente", pledging all proceeds to disaster relief efforts across Puerto Rico, Mexico, the U.S., and the Caribbean in response to Hurricanes Harvey, Hurricane Irma, and Hurricane Maria, as well as the Chiapas and Puebla earthquakes. In April 2020, Beyoncé donated $6 million to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, UCLA, and local community-based organizations to provide mental health and wellness services for essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. She featured on the remix of Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage" (2020), with proceeds supporting Bread of Life Houston's COVID-19 relief efforts.
Beyoncé worked with the Feminist Coalition in the End SARS movement in Nigeria to cover medical costs for injured protestors, legal fees for arrested protestors, and resources for those in need. Beyoncé also supports the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon, ShutItAllDown in Namibia, Zimbabwean Lives Matter in Zimbabwe and the Rape National Emergency in Liberia. In December 2020, Beyoncé donated $500,000 to alleviate the housing crisis in the U.S. caused by the cessation of the eviction moratorium. In partnership with BeyGood, in 2024, she introduced an annual grant program to support cosmetology students and professional hair stylists with financial assistance. In January of the subsequent year, she donated $2.5 million to Los Angeles fire relief funds amidst the wildfires that month in Southern California.
In March 2015, Beyoncé became a co-owner of the music streaming platform Tidal, alongside several other artists. In November 2020, she entered a multi-year partnership with fitness and media company Peloton. In 2021, Beyoncé and Jay-Z partnered with Tiffany & Co. for the company's "About Love" campaign. Beyoncé became the fourth woman, and first Black woman, to wear the 128.54-carat Tiffany Yellow Diamond. The campaign drew criticism, as the diamond is considered a blood diamond and a symbol of British colonial exploitation in Africa. On August 20, 2024, Beyoncé announced SirDavis, a whiskey in collaboration with Moët Hennessy developed for years prior and co-founded with master distiller Dr. Bill Lumsden. In October 2024, Levi's launched a four-part global campaign titled "Reiimagine" with Beyoncé, spotlighting women's history with the company and featuring her Cowboy Carter track "Levii's Jeans".
In April 2016, Beyoncé launched Ivy Park, a 50–50 joint venture with fashion retailer Topshop. The brand's name was inspired by her daughter, Blue Ivy, Beyoncé's favorite number, four (IV), and the park where she used to run in Texas. Following allegations that Topshop owner Philip Green had sexually harassed, bullied, and racially abused employees, Beyoncé bought out his 50percent stake in the company. In April 2019, she partnered with Adidas as a creative collaborator to relaunch Ivy Park and develop new apparel and footwear, with the first collection debuting in January 2020. The brand struggled financially and by March 2023, Beyoncé and Adidas mutually ended their partnership. That same month, Beyoncé collaborated with Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing on a couture collection inspired by her Renaissance album. With sixteen looks—one for each track—it was the first time a Black woman led the design of a Parisian couture house collection.
with Destiny's Child
with the Carters
Soundtrack albums
Documentaries
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