Rihanna’s 14 #1 Singles: Revisited, Reviewed & Ranked

Idolator Staff | November 19, 2019 3:00 pm

10. “Love The Way You Lie” (Eminem featuring Rihanna) Year: 2010 Stay At #1: 7 weeks

The biggest hit of Eminem’s career, “Love the Way You Lie” throbs with passion and pain. It’s a shame, though, that the Eminem-centric original overshadowed sequel “Love the Way You Lie (Part II),” which gives more voice to Rihanna’s voice and perspective. Taken together, they paint a powerfully rounded portrait of domestic violence and what makes people stay long past the point of safety.

This is the rare cut that could have a life-changing impact, whether you’re casually listening or hanging on every single word. — JONATHAN RIGGS

9. “Live Your Life” (T.I. featuring Rihanna) Year: 2008 Stay At #1: 6 weeks

Due to the sampling of O-Zone‘s 2003 song “Dragostea Din Tei,” made famous by this guy, T.I.’s “Live Your Life” felt like the peak of the many times late aughts pop music tried cynically to co-opt an internet meme for a zeitgeist-y shortcut to relevance. But then the stink of novelty wears off, and you realize it might be one of the best hip hop/pop songs of the last decade.

Besides Tip being in classic, cocky form (“I’m the opposite of moderate / Immaculately polished with / The spirit of a hustler / And the swagger of a college kid”), listen RiRi’s rendering of that hook: Listen to how she bends the melody of “Dragoestea Din Tei” to her liking, the way she commands the chorus “Just Live Your Life” with an insouciant arrogance, using her Barbadian twang to purr, “You steady chasin’ that payy-puhhh.”

When people think of this song, they don’t think of T.I.; they think of Rihanna performing it for the first time at the 2008 VMAs, looking and sounding like the coolest motherfucker alive. — PATRICK BOWMAN

8. “Disturbia” Year: 2008 Stay At #1: 2 weeks

Despite being co-written by Chris Brown, “Disturbia” is the Halloween party hotness. It prefigured the darker style and direction A Girl Like Ri would take going forward. But don’t take my word for it; in 2008, Yahoo! Answers asked, “Is Rihanna’s ‘Disturbia’ the best dance song since ‘Thriller’?” “Well it’s certainly the best dance song I’ve heard since I got that CD of nothing but yo momma moanin’ and screamin’,” wrote user Brandon Y. “That’s right, I went there.”

Bum bum be-dum, bum bum be-dum bum, y’all! — JONATHAN RIGGS

7. “Take A Bow” Year: 2008 Stay At #1: 1 week

Usually cooler than Candyland’s Queen Frostine, Rihanna has never sounded warmer than on this surprisingly tender kiss-off to an unfaithful lover. In a world of dumb “No, you’re dumped, bitch!” dubsteppery, “Take a Bow” shines with simplicity and sincerity.

Anyone who’s had a broken heart can appreciate Rihanna’s clear-eyed closure masking — mostly — her sadder-but-wiser wounded vulnerability. It’s no small feat that, with only the power and personality of her voice, she manages to be convey so much. (I just wish she hadn’t conveyed the painfully cheesy “and the award for the Best Liar goes to…you!” lyric.) — JONATHAN RIGGS

6. “What’s My Name” (featuring Drake) Year: 2010 Stay At #1: 1 week

Who knew that it would take the Norwegian production nerds of Stargate to return Rihanna to her dancehall/reggaeton roots? “What’s My Name,” the second single off Rihanna’s fifth album Loud, is an amazing merging of the Euro house music production that has dominated the new decade’s pop charts and the breezy Caribbean vibes that permeated the entirety of Ri’s debut album. The understated kettle drum and horn synth hits, along with a leisurely beat and melody really play to Rihanna’s strengths as a pop artist, namely an unforced air of nonchalance and beauty.

Does it help that Drake throws down another in a long line of his great, corny-cool pop-rap verses, featuring a rhyme I still hum to myself in quiet moments of reflection (“Good weed, white wine/ I come alive in the night time.”)? Yes. Yes it does. — PATRICK BOWMAN