Rihanna is to be commended on her success this past year and especially following her recent wins at the Billboard Music Awards. Many Barbadians may have been hearing about the venerable Billboard Charts for years and determined, correctly, that to have a hit album or single on those charts was a big deal, since Billboard Magazine is the United States’ music industry’s premier publication for tracking the performance of albums and singles across all genres.

Success on its charts is taken as a true reflection of how the industry’s product is doing on the market. Rihanna’s win in the Female Artist Of The Year category is significant not because of her being “the best” female artiste, but it means that her album and singles performances on the Billboard Top 200 (album) and on the Hot 100 (singles) chart combined meant she was the most popular female artiste.