Every Ariana Grande Album, Ranked: Critic’s Picks
Written by Kyle-Brandon Denis on March 6, 2024
Since her Billboard Hot 100 debut with the Mac Miller-assisted “The Way” back in 2013, Ariana Grande has evolved into a generational pop titan. Her awe-inspiring vocal prowess and fearlessness to move through the myriad subsects of pop, R&B, dance, hip-hop and musical theatre have resulted in a discography that is as creatively fulfilling as it is culturally and commercially impactful.
From her Victorious and Sam & Cat days — she didn’t say she couldn’t sing, after all! — it was glaringly obvious that Grande’s voice would carry her to unimaginable career heights. After a few false starts (“Put Your Hearts Up,” anyone?) she eventually found her footing with Yours Truly, the R&B-laced debut LP that announced her as pop’s next superstar. From the jaunty “Popular Song” to her work with key producers and songwriters such as Victoria Monét, Tommy Brown, Leon Thomas III and Babyface, Yours Truly laid the groundwork that Grande’s entire catalog stands upon.
From there, she embarked on five consecutive albums of Top 40 domination. 2014‘s My Everything boasted four Hot 100 top 10 hits, 2016’s Dangerous Woman housed genre-bending collaborations with everyone from Macy Gray to Future, 2018’s Sweetener found Grande expanding her horizons by tapping Pharrell Williams, 2019’s Thank U, Next spawned a pair of career-defining No. 1 hits in its title track and “7 Rings,” and 2020’s Positions reignited her R&B influences and launched two monster hits in its chart-topping title track and “34+35” (No. 2). According to Luminate, Grande has shifted 19.4 million album units in the U.S. and earned over 23.6 billion streams across lead artist credits, as of Aug. 25, 2023, the ten-year anniversary of Yours Truly.
At the top of 2024, Grande made her grand return to the pop music scene with “yes, and?” A house-tastic kiss-off to her detractors, the Max Martin-helmed track serves as the lead single from Eternal Sunshine — Grande’s seventh studio album and first in three years. By the tail end of January (chart dated Jan. 27), “Yes, And?” launched atop the Hot 100 — her eighth chart-topper and sixth to debut at the pole position — and received a Mariah Carey-featuring remix five week slater.
As the two-time Grammy winner prepares to unleash Eternal Sunshine and enter her Wicked era, now is the time to take a trip down memory lane. From latex bunny ears to that low, blonde ponytail, here’s our ranking of every Ariana Grande studio album.
