Beyoncé Albums Ranked

Beyoncé has been in the spotlight at a young age. There’s not many people who don’t know who she is. Weather you know her as one third/quarter of Destiny’s Child, an actress, wife of Jay-Z, fashion designer or as a singer. Either way, you will see Beyoncé use the theme of female empowerment in everything she does. Whatever she does, she always takes the lead. She’s no stranger to controversy, but she seems to embrace it.

Even in the Destiny’s Child days it was clear that she was set to be a superstar. They were one of my favourite bands when I was younger because I loved the vocals and harmonies. I have already ranked albums from Destiny’s Child, so I think it’s time to rank her solo albums. I fell out of the loop with her after the Sasha Feirce era because I started listening to other genres. So I thought it would be interesting to listen to all her solo albums and rank them in order of their greatness (in my personal opinion). All six of her studio albums have topped the charts which in a male dominated industry is a remarkable achievement.

I like her music because of the feminist themes, songs based on personal experience and how she carries on the themes from Destiny’s Child.

The Gift (Lion King Soundtrack)

I think this soundtrack didn’t have much of a leg to stand on because people will always compare it to the original animated soundtrack. Of course both the original film and the soundtrack is superior, Beyoncè still put her all on this album and it’s not strictly a solo album or so to speak, it’s still worth a mention.

I Am...Sasha Fierce

This is a good album that explores her onstage persona, Sasha Fierce and shot her into even further international stardom that nobody expected. She was already famous and adored. It’s a good album with some amazing singles. Everybody knows Single Ladies, Sweet Dreams and my personal favourite, Video Phone. When it first came out I thought it was the best thing she had ever released, but overtime I started to love her older albums more whilst also being blown away by the albums that came after Sasha Fierce.

Dangerously In Love

Her first solo album after the hiatus of Destiny’s Child was such a big thing. Crazy In Love was being played every minute of every hour of every day on th radio and the music channels. I think it’s a fantastic R&B album and it has rightly gone on to become a classic. I like Naughty Girl and used to have Baby Boy on repeat when I was at school. Work It Out always reminds me of the Austin Powers movie she was in.

B’Day

I think this album is underrated as far as her albums go. There’s hardly any filler or tracks that I skip. I love Irreplacable. Beautiful Liar is an amazing ballad with Shakira and that’s another song I used to listen to a lot. I wish Shakira was in the Spanglish version as well as the normal song. I love the Latin and home routes on this album. The only reason I can think of not liking this album is not liking R&B.

4

4 is a coming of age record. Beyoncé says goodbye to Sasha Fierce and her father’s management and shows the world what she’s really capable off. There’s a lot of songs on the radio that lament on broken relationships and an obsession with young love. Beyoncé’s tracks always offer something different. Weather it’s the pro-feminist song, Run The World or Best Thing I Never Had there’s the vunerable 1+1. There’s a lot of songs I like on this album.

Beyoncé

The fifth self-titled album was a lot more experimental and explored more genres and themes. She has always done this in other albums in a mild context but this was done in a lot more detail and complexity. It has a lot of personality. My favourite songs are No Angel and Haunted.

Lemonade

When life gives you lemons, make Lemonade... and Beyoncé did. Out of all her studio albums, I would say this one is my favourite. It’s a personal album much like her other records and there’s a lot of hurt, anger and emotions running through this album based on Jay-Z cheating on her. Jay-Z’s infidelity shocked the world as Mr and Mrs Carter were the golden couple in the R&B world. The highlights for me are Pray That You Catch Me and 6 Inch.

Homecoming

I don’t normally include live albums on my album rankings, but I thought this album was too epic not to be included or mentioned after seeing it on Netflix. What a show it was. The set list was incredible.