There's a group of a dozen female pop stars with a decade of success between them whose rise and staying power as mainstream favorites deserves to be studied.
Beyoncé, Fergie, Nelly Furtado, Avril Lavigne, Rihanna, Gwen Stefani, and Carrie Underwood.
As I stood at Nashville’s EXIT/IN watching Gatsby/Universal Records-signed emerging star Carter Faith bring country-to-pop crossover breakout superstar Megan Moroney onstage for a duet during a recent Sunday evening headlining set, I made a note to take a close look at the generational stars who ultimately inspired what feels like a palpably powerful moment for emerging female pop stars in 2026.
That required turning back the clock to 2007.
Upon doing so, one thing was obvious: I was correct.
Generational shift moments are fun to observe because they’re felt in nuance more than they’re seen in fact.
There’s something studied and wholly accepted about them, instead of feeling like the weight of a star-making industry machine is crashing around an unexpected favorite.
In retrospect, 2007 created a multitude of those moments that could be replicated differently in 2026.
Of the crew, Beyoncé and Stefani were the veterans who were assured in the spotlight, having spent most of the 1990s achieving group fame with Destiny’s Child and No Doubt. Their first generation of solo success, thus, felt less like breaking a new star than the hangover from their previous moment being refreshed with a metaphorical new coat of paint.
Fergie, Furtado, Avril, and Rihanna all benefited from the momentum of Beyoncé and Stefani’s previous careers being reimagined and recast on literal fresh bodies and fresh bodies of work.
Of note, the quartet, in total, has sold twice as many albums, in total, as their forebears.
Insofar as Underwood, she’s the “American Idol” winner-made pop-outier for whom, in 2007, there was no corollary. However, in the present day, artists like Faith and Moroney (as well as other breakout country-to-pop women like Ella Langley and Lainey Wilson), represent the potential for a clear lineage.
Carrie’s sold over 70 million records worldwide and has achieved two dozen No. 1 singles on country radio. Presume that, to match and exceed Underwood, incredible success over the next decade for this quartet will have to occur.
35 million albums per artist, with no fewer than eight No. 1 hits apiece. Is it possible? Sure.
Alone, Taylor Swift has already sold roughly 120 million albums and has matched Underwood’s number of chart-toppers, thanks to country and mainstream radio success.
In the wake of Underwood and the shadow of Swift, there’s a female pop-crossover movement afoot. If traditions are followed, there are four stars capable of finally completely expanding upon what a septet of legends wrought 20 years ago
