Ariana Grande is known as one of the most successful female music artists of our generation. She has released six incredible, versatile albums that have all performed extremely well on the charts. All of these albums have been performed on tour, except for her most recent one, Positions. She has many other successes besides her music. She has a prolific acting career, several perfumes, a future beauty line, and more. I’ll be ranking her albums from my favorite to least favorite, which is so difficult because I genuinely love them all! I adore all of the songs that she’s released, but some have to, inevitably, be my least favorite.
6. My Everything
One of these albums had to be at the bottom, and unfortunately, My Everything has taken that spot. I still enjoy listening to this album, but it doesn’t have the most unique songs. The singles from this album are incredible; my favorite songs off of My Everything are definitely the singles, which I can’t say for the other albums. A lot of the songs from this album give off the radio pop song vibe, so I don’t like them as much as her other music. It’s not that this album is bad, it’s just that it’s my least favorite compared to the others. My favorite songs besides the singles are “Just a Little Bit of Your Heart”, “Best Mistake” and “Only 1.” My least listened to songs are “Hands on Me and “My Everything.”
5. Sweetener
Sweetener is an album that I had to learn to love. The first time I listened, I wasn’t the biggest fan. Especially since it had such a different vibe than her previous work. Now about 3 years later, my opinion has definitely become more positive. “Goodnight n Go” is one of my favorite Ariana songs ever. I grew to absolutely adore a lot of the songs, but there are still some that I tend to skip when I shuffle the album. While I enjoyed almost all of the singles off of this album, “The Light is Coming” wasn’t my favorite. My personal favorites off of this album are “Goodnight n Go”, “REM”, and “Every time.” The songs that didn’t do it for me from Sweetener are, “Blazed”, “The Light is Coming” and “Borderline.”
4. Yours Truly
Yours Truly will always have a special place in my heart since this was her first album ever and fans got to see her as a real music artist rather than a quirky character on a Nickelodeon show. I feel like she was trying to prove herself as being more than an actress on a kid’s show; she hits so many high notes that really show off her vocal range. This album had incredible features from Big Sean and Mac Miller, which is insane considering that this was just Ariana’s first album. The songs on this album are so fun and upbeat, and really fit her personality at the time. I still listen to “Right There” and “The Way” like they were released yesterday! The top two off of this album are “Tattooed Heart,” “Honeymoon Avenue,” “Daydreamin’”, and “You’ll Never Know.” My least favorites are “Popular Song” and “Better Left Unsaid.”
3. Dangerous Woman
This album was a really groundbreaking transition period for Ariana. Dangerous Woman was definitely the turning point in her career to show that she deserves to be recognized as one of the most incredible female artists in the music industry. Although I love all of the tracks, the singles are not my favorite, which is why this album isn’t ranked higher. My favorites from the album are “Moonlight”, “Greedy”, “Sometimes”, and “Knew Better/Forever Boy.” My least favorites are “Everyday” and “Side to Side”. While I enjoy them, they aren’t the best compared to the other songs.
2. Positions
As soon as I heard the song “Positions,” I knew that this was going to be an iconic era of Ariana Grande. The vibe of this album is very playful; every single song is incredibly written. She has gained a lot of confidence and it really shines through on this album! Positions is very sexual and flirty, more so than the rest of her albums. Her vocals on this album are absolutely insane and her talent always blows me away. Compared to her previous album, Thank U, Next, this album has a more positive, empowering energy. The songs that stand out the most to me are “Just like Magic”, “Nasty”, “Safety Net”, and “Off the Table.” My least listened-to tracks from Positions are “West Side”, “Shut up” and “Motive.”
1. Thank U, Next
Thank U, Next is honestly my favorite album of all time. Every single song is incredible and unique. The singles are amazing and she even held the top two spots on the US Billboard Hot 100 with “7 Rings” at the top and “Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” at number two. She was super involved in writing every song on this album, which definitely shows and is a big reason why I enjoy the songs so much. The lyrics are incredibly heartfelt and you can tell that these are her real, genuine emotions. I really love how relatable the lyrics are in her more sentimental, emotional songs. Although there are a lot of heartfelt songs on this album, the ones that are more fun and upbeat are just as amazing. The fact that she was able to make such a beautiful album without any features shows how successful she can be on her own. My personal favorite songs from Thank U, Next are “NASA”, “In my Head”, “Ghostin” and “Imagine.” My least listened to song from this album is “Make up,” which I still enjoy but I like all of the other singles more.
If you haven’t listened to these albums in their entirety, I highly recommend that you do! Seeing how she has grown and evolved as a music artist over the years has been incredible to witness. I hope that you enjoyed my Ariana Grande album rankings and that it has given you a newfound appreciation for her talent!
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