Best of 2000s: Rihanna - Good Girl Gone Bad (4.5/5)

Every artist who becomes a major star had that moment where they went from being merely popular to being an icon. This was Rihanna's. Following two albums that together produced a handful of hits, Good Girl Gone Bad came on the scene and produced no less than seven top 40 hits (if you count both the original and "reloaded" versions) plus one other great song that should have been a top 40 hit, a remix of Maroon 5's "If I Never See Your Face Again." "Umbrella," the album's driving first single became her signature hit. Following that were four hard-hitting dance pop songs--one of which, "Dont Stop the Music," became a major international hit. Then there's the lovely mid-tempo duet with Ne-Yo, "Hate that I Love You." Often when an album gets re-released with new songs the results are underwhelming, but here they were spot on, with the pumping "Disturbia" and understated ballad "Take a Bow" that showed finally that Rihanna could nail a good ballad (it's much much better than "Unfaithful"). At the time of its release, I certainly did not expect it would become one of the decade's biggest pop albums.

Best: Umbrella, Push Up on Me, Hate that I Love You, Disturbia, Don't Stop the Music, If I Never See Your Face Again, Take a Bow