Ariana Grande

2013–2015: Yours Truly and My Everything

In early 2013, Grande signed with talent manager Scooter Braun and his firm SB Projects. Grande released her debut album, Yours Truly, on August 30, 2013. A pop and R&B record influenced by 1950s doo-wop, it debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 albums chart, with 138,000 copies sold in its first week. Yours Truly also debuted in the top ten in several other countries, including Australia, the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Its lead single, "The Way", featuring Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller, debuted at number ten on the US Billboard Hot 100, eventually peaking at number nine for two weeks. Grande was later sued by Minder Music for copying the line "What we gotta do right here is go back, back in time" from the 1972 song "Troglodyte (Cave Man)" by the Jimmy Castor Bunch. The album's second single, "Baby I", was released in July. Its third single, "Right There", featuring Detroit rapper Big Sean, was released in August 2013. They respectively peaked at numbers 21 and 84 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Grande recorded the duet "Almost Is Never Enough" with Nathan Sykes of the Wanted, which was released as a promotional single in August 2013. She also joined Canadian singer Justin Bieber on his Believe Tour for three shows and kicked off her own headlining mini-tour, the Listening Sessions. At the 2013 American Music Awards, she won the award for New Artist of the Year. She released a four-song Christmas EP—Christmas Kisses—in December and received the Breakthrough Artist of the Year award from the Music Business Association, recognizing her achievements throughout 2013. By January 2014, Grande had begun recording her second studio album with singer-songwriter Ryan Tedder and record producers Benny Blanco and Max Martin. The same month, she earned the Favorite Breakout Artist award at the People's Choice Awards 2014. In March 2014, Grande sang at the White House concert, "Women of Soul: In Performance at the White House". The following month, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama invited Grande again to perform at the White House for the Easter Egg Roll event.

Grande released her second studio album, My Everything, on August 25, 2014; it debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with 169,000 copies and received generally positive reviews. She explored EDM, dance-pop, and electro genres on the album. Its lead single, "Problem" featuring Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, and became Grande's first number-one on the UK and New Zealand singles charts. Selling 438,000 digital copies in its opening week, it achieved the highest first-week sales numbers of 2014 and made Grande the youngest woman, at 20 years old, to debut with over 400,000 downloads at the time. "Problem" became 2014's eighth-best-selling digital single globally, with over nine million copies sold, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The album's second single, "Break Free", featuring German musician and producer Zedd, was released on July 3 and reached number four in the United States. She performed the song as the opening of the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards and won Best Pop Video for "Problem". Grande and Nicki Minaj provided guest vocals on "Bang Bang", the lead single from Jessie J's album Sweet Talker, which peaked at number one in the UK and at number three in the US. The song was added to the deluxe version of My Everything, serving as the third single from the album. It was certified diamond by the RIAA in May 2024, for selling over 10 million units in the US; it marked the first all-female collaboration to achieve the certification. With the singles "Problem", "Break Free", and "Bang Bang", Grande became the second female artist in chart history, joining Adele, with three top-ten singles simultaneously listed on the Billboard Hot 100 as a lead artist.

Grande was the musical performer on Saturday Night Live, with Chris Pratt as the host on September 27, 2014. That same month, the fourth single from My Everything, "Love Me Harder", featuring Canadian recording artist the Weeknd, was released and peaked at number seven in the United States. In November 2014, Grande was featured in Major Lazer's song "All My Love" from the soundtrack album for the film The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014). Later that month, Grande released the Christmas song "Santa Tell Me" as a single from the reissue of her first Christmas EP, Christmas Kisses (2014). The track became a modern Christmas standard, significantly rising in popularity on streaming services during the holiday season every year. A decade after its release, it reached number five on the Hot 100 issue dated January 4, 2025—being the first Christmas song released in the 21st century to appear in the chart's top-five region. The following month, she appeared on Nicki Minaj's third album, The Pinkprint, with the song "Get on Your Knees". She later released the fifth and the final single from My Everything, "One Last Time", which peaked at number 13 in the US.

In February 2015, Grande embarked on her first worldwide concert tour, the Honeymoon Tour, to further promote My Everything, with shows in North America, Europe, Asia, and South America. Grande was featured on Cashmere Cat's song "Adore", which was released in March 2015. In June, she signed an exclusive publishing contract with the Universal Music Publishing Group, covering her entire music catalog. Grande also filmed an episode for the Fox Broadcasting Company reality TV series Knock Knock Live (2015), but the show was canceled before her episode aired. She also guest-starred on several episodes of the Fox comedy-horror television series Scream Queens as Sonya Herfmann/Chanel #2 from September to November 2015. She recorded the duet "E Più Ti Penso" with Italian recording artist Andrea Bocelli, which was released in October 2015 as the lead single from Bocelli's album Cinema (2015), and covered the song "Zero to Hero", originally from the animated film Hercules (1997), for the compilation album We Love Disney (2015). Grande also released her second Christmas EP, Christmas & Chill, in December 2015.

2015–2018: Dangerous Woman and Sweetener

Grande began recording songs for her third studio album, Dangerous Woman, originally titled Moonlight, in 2015. In October of that year, she released the single "Focus", initially intended as the lead single from the album; the song debuted at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. The next month American singer Who Is Fancy released the single "Boys Like You", which features Ariana Grande and Meghan Trainor. She was featured in the remix version of "Over and Over Again", a song by English singer Nathan Sykes from his solo debut studio album, Unfinished Business, which was released in January 2016. In March 2016, Grande released "Dangerous Woman" as the lead single from the retitled album of the same name. The single debuted at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first artist to have the lead single from each of their first three albums debut in the top ten. The same month, Grande appeared as host and musical guest of Saturday Night Live, where she performed "Dangerous Woman" and debuted the promotional single "Be Alright", which charted at number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100. Grande garnered positive reviews for her appearance on the show, including praise for her impressions of various singers, some of which she had done on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Grande released Dangerous Woman on May 20, 2016, which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. It also debuted at number two in Japan, and at number one in several other markets, including Australia, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand and the UK. Mark Savage, writing for BBC News, called the album "a mature, confident record". In August, Grande released a third single from the album, "Side to Side", featuring rapper Nicki Minaj, her eighth top-ten entry on the Hot 100, which peaked at number four on that chart. Dangerous Woman and its title track received Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance. Aside from music, Grande played Penny Pingleton in the NBC television broadcast Hairspray Live!, which aired in December 2016. Grande recorded the title track of the soundtrack for the 2017 live-action remake of Disney's 1991 animated film Beauty and the Beast. The recording was released as a duet with American singer John Legend in February 2017. The same month, Grande embarked on her third concert tour, the Dangerous Woman Tour, to promote the album.

On May 22, 2017, her concert at the Manchester Arena was the target of a suicide bombing. An Islamic extremist, motivated by Muslim casualties from US intervention in the Syrian Civil War, detonated a shrapnel-laden homemade bomb as people were leaving the arena. The Manchester Arena bombing, which occurred at the City Room, caused 22 deaths and injured over 1,000 more. Grande suspended the remainder of the tour and held a televised benefit concert, One Love Manchester, on June 4, helping to raise $23 million to aid the bombing's victims and affected families. The concert featured performances from Grande, as well as Liam Gallagher, Robbie Williams, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, and other artists. To recognize her efforts, the Manchester City Council named Grande the first honorary citizen of Manchester and, later in the year, she was reported to have declined an honorary UK damehood. The tour resumed on June 7 in Paris and ended in September 2017.

In August 2017, Grande appeared in an Apple Music Carpool Karaoke episode, singing musical theatre songs with American entertainer Seth MacFarlane. In December 2017, Billboard magazine named her "Female Artist of the Year". Grande began working on songs for her fourth studio album, Sweetener, with Pharrell Williams in 2016. Grande released "No Tears Left to Cry" as the lead single from Sweetener in April 2018, with the song debuting at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, making Grande the only artist to have debuted the lead single of her first four albums in the top ten of the Hot 100. In June 2018, she was featured in "Bed", the second single from Nicki Minaj's fourth studio album, Queen. The same month, she was featured on Troye Sivan's single "Dance to This" from his second studio album, Bloom. The second single, "God Is a Woman", peaked at number eight on the Hot 100 and became Grande's tenth top-ten single in the US.

Released in August 2018, Sweetener debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and received acclaim from critics. She simultaneously charted nine songs from the album on the Hot 100, along with a collaboration, making her the fourth female artist to reach the ten-song mark. Grande gave four concerts to promote the album, billed as the Sweetener Sessions, in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and London between August 20 and September 4, 2018. In October 2018, Grande participated in the NBC broadcast, A Very Wicked Halloween, singing "The Wizard and I" from the musical Wicked. The following month, the BBC aired a one-hour special, Ariana Grande at the BBC, featuring interviews and performances.

2018–2019: Thank U, Next

In November 2018, Grande released the single "Thank U, Next" and announced her fifth studio album of the same name. The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Grande's first chart-topping single in the United States, spending seven non-consecutive weeks atop. Since then, it has been certified eight-times platinum in the United States; the song's music video broke the records for the most-watched music video on YouTube within 24 hours of release and the fastest Vevo video to reach 100 million views on YouTube, at the time. On Spotify, it became the fastest song to reach 100 million streams (11 days) and the most-streamed song by a female artist in a 24-hour period, with 9.6 million streams, before being surpassed by her own "7 Rings" (nearly 15 million streams). "Thank U, Next" was the most-streamed song by a woman globally on Apple Music in 2019.

Grande released, in collaboration with YouTube, a four-part docuseries titled Ariana Grande: Dangerous Woman Diaries. It shows behind the scenes and concert footage from Grande's Dangerous Woman Tour, including moments from the One Love Manchester concert, and follows her professional life during the tour and the making of Sweetener. The series debuted on November 29, 2018. By the end of the year, she became the most-streamed female artist on Spotify and was named Billboard's Woman of the Year. In January 2019, it was announced that Grande would be headlining the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, where she became the youngest and the fourth female artist ever to headline the festival. Grande brought several guest artists to perform with her, including NSYNC, P. Diddy, Nicki Minaj, and Justin Bieber. Her set received critical acclaim.

Grande's second single from Thank U, Next, "7 Rings", was released on January 18, 2019, and debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 issue dated February 2, becoming her second single in a row (and overall) to top the charts. It made Grande the third female artist with multiple number-one debuts after Mariah Carey (3) and Britney Spears (2) and fifth artist overall after Justin Bieber and Drake. Spending eight non-consecutive weeks at the summit, it became Grande's most successful song on the chart and was certified diamond in the US. "7 Rings" became 2019's fifth-best-selling song globally and one of the best-selling digital singles worldwide. Thank U, Next was released on February 8, 2019, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 while receiving acclaim from critics. The album garnered Grande's largest sales week of all time in the United States (360,000 album-equivalent units). Her fourth number-one album, and second in less than six months, it marked the shortest gap between number-one albums for a woman at the time. Thank U, Next broke records for the largest streaming week for a pop album and for a female album in the US, with 307 million on-demand streams. At the time, it was the only non-hip hop title among the twenty largest US album streaming weeks, at number eight. The album also achieved the largest streaming week by a female artist in Canada and the United Kingdom. In June 2020, Thank U, Next was certified double platinum by the RIAA.

Grande became the first solo artist to occupy the top three spots on the Billboard Hot 100 with "7 Rings" at number one, "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" debuting at number two, and "Thank U, Next" rising to number three, and the overall second artist to do so since 1964, when the Beatles occupied the top five spots. In the United Kingdom, Grande became the second female solo artist to simultaneously hold the top two spots and the first musical artist to replace herself at number one twice consecutively. With eleven Thank U, Next tracks appearing within the top 40 region on the Hot 100, Grande broke the record for the most simultaneous top 40 entries by a female artist.

In February 2019, it was reported Grande would not attend the 61st Annual Grammy Awards after she had a disagreement with producers over a potential performance at the ceremony. Grande ended up earning her first Grammy, for Best Pop Vocal Album (Sweetener). The same month, Grande won a Brit Award for International Female Solo Artist. She also embarked on her third headlining tour, the Sweetener World Tour, to promote both Sweetener and Thank U, Next, which began on March 18 and concluded on December 22, 2019. Spanning 97 shows through North America and Europe, it grossed US$146.6 million with over 1.3 million tickets sold, marking Grande's highest-grossing and biggest tour to date. A live album of the tour's setlist, titled K Bye for Now (SWT Live), was released on December 23. Grande was nominated for nine awards at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards, including Top Artist; she won two for Billboard Chart Achievement and Top Female Artist on May 1, 2019. Grande performed at the event via a pre-recorded performance from her Sweetener World Tour.

Business and ventures

Fragrances

Grande has released twenty fragrances with Luxe Brands. She launched her debut fragrance, Ari by Ariana Grande, in 2015. In the wake of its success, she launched her third fragrance, Sweet Like Candy, in 2016. Her fifth fragrance, Moonlight, was released in 2017, followed by Cloud (2018), Thank U, Next (2019), R.E.M. (2020), and God Is a Woman (2021), which was later expanded to an Ulta-exclusive body care line in 2022. She then released the duo fragrance collection Mod Vanilla and Mod Blush (2022). It was followed by the collection Lovenotes (2024), which consisted of four region-exclusive fragrances released in North America, Europe, and Australia.

The next fragrances were Cherry Eclipse (2025), released as a R.E.M. Beauty product via Ulta, and Cloud Aurora (2026), the third variant in the Cloud line. The range also includes the limited editions Frankie (2016), Sweet Like Candy Limited Edition (2017), Thank U, Next 2.0, Cloud Intense (both 2021), Cloud Pink (2023), Glinda Bubbly Pink, and Elphaba Enchanted (both 2025). The last two of these were released in partnership with Universal Products & Experiences as tie-in products for the film Wicked: For Good. The fragrances won the FiFi Award multiple times, most recently with R.E.M. in 2021. In 2022, it was reported that Cloud was the best-selling fragrance at Ulta, selling one bottle every eleven seconds. As of 2024, the scents are developed and manufactured in collaboration with Robertet Group and International Flavors & Fragrances. Grande's fragrance line is the most-searched celebrity offering, with over 4.4 million searches across Google and social media platforms per year as of 2023. Since its launch in 2015, the franchise has made over $1 billion in retail sales globally.

R.E.M. Beauty

In November 2021, Grande launched her makeup line, R.E.M. Beauty, which is distributed at Ulta Beauty as of March 2022. The original line featured 12 core products for lips and eyes, and the range has since been expanded with additional skincare and makeup products. Forbes reported in 2022 that R.E.M. Beauty was one of the brands boosting Ulta's driving gross margin due to strong consumer demand. In May, the line won "Best New Brand" at the Allure Best of Beauty Awards. In February 2023, the brand was launched in 81 Sephora stores and 13 online sites, including across Europe.

Products and endorsements

In November 2015, she released a limited edition handbag in collaboration with Coach. In January 2016, she launched a makeup collection with MAC Cosmetics, donating 100% of proceeds to the MAC AIDS Fund. In February 2016, Grande launched a fashion line with Lipsy London. Later that year, she teamed up with Brookstone, using the concept art of artist Wenqing Yan, to design cat ear headphones. In 2017, Grande collaborated with Square Enix to create a character based on herself for the mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. Grande was a limited-time unlockable character as part of the Dangerous Woman Tour event, which also included an orchestral remix of Grande's song "Touch It"; the character, Dangerous Ariana, is a magical support character who uses music-based attacks. In September 2017, she became a brand ambassador for Reebok.

In August 2018, she partnered with American Express for the Sweetener Sessions, a partnership which continued through the Sweetener World Tour in 2019, alongside T-Mobile. In March 2019, she partnered with Starbucks for the launch of the Cloud Macchiato beverage. In May 2019, Grande was announced as the face of Givenchy's fall-winter campaign. The campaign began in July and generated $25.13 million in media impact value. In July 2024, she became the brand ambassador of Swarovski; Grande's first appearance as the face was in the house's holiday campaign in October 2024. Grande collaborated with the company's global creative director Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert on two capsule collections, released in January 2025 and March 2026. Beats, Samsung, Fiat, Reebok, and Guess products have been featured in Grande's music videos. She has appeared in commercials for Macy's, T-Mobile, and Apple, as well as for her own fragrances. Since 2019, Grande has been among the ten highest-paid individuals on Instagram. As of 2025, Grande earns $2 million per sponsored Instagram post.

In November 2019, Grande endorsed Bernie Sanders's second presidential bid. She endorsed Joe Biden for the 2020 presidential election and Kamala Harris for the 2024 presidential election.

In June 2025, amid ICE enforcement operations in Los Angeles, Grande wrote on Instagram that she was "deeply upset about these violent deportations" and that "LA simply wouldn't exist without immigrants", sharing ACLU resources on immigrant rights. At the 83rd Golden Globes on January 11, 2026, Grande wore an "ICE Out" pin as part of a coordinated campaign in response to the killing of Renée Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Later that month, she promoted a nationwide protest against ICE on her Instagram Story, urging followers to participate in the "ICE Out Nationwide Shutdown" on January 30.

In June 2026, the White House used a snippet of Grande's song "Bye" in a video promoting ICE on TikTok. She commented on the post: "Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense." The White House later told US media: "What's actually barbaric, inhumane, and heinous are the criminal illegal ‌aliens ⁠who have injured and murdered innocent American citizens." Shortly after, Grande's song was removed from the video.