Ariana Grande entered music scene with a strong impression. With her powerful vocal chops, she was even dubbed as the next Mariah Carey and compared to Whitney Houston. Her debut single “The Way” featuring Mac Miller broke the top-10 list of Billboard Hot 100 peaking at No. 9 and rising one spot higher on the U.K. chart.
Grande was best known for portraying the character Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon sitcom “Victorious” before getting a big break in music. When “The Way” was released in March 2013, it was sold over 120,000 units in the first 48 hours before moving on to 219,000 units in its opening week. It held the third best-selling first-week sales figure of 2013 behind Justin Timberlake’s “Suit & Tie” and One Direction’s “Best Song Ever” back then.
She then announced her debut album, “Yours Truly”. Less than a year after she had the album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard 200, Grande revealed she had already started working on a follow-up. The first single off the second LP then arrived in late April. The song titled “Problem” and featuring verses from Iggy Azalea debuted at No. 3 on Billboard 200, giving Grande her biggest digital song sales week ever. It eventually reached No. 2. As her star shone, the then-Nickelodeon star started collecting prestigious awards. She won Best Newcomer at the 2013 Billboard Mid-Year Music Awards. She also received three Teen Choice Award nominations; Best Love Song, Best Breakout Artist and Style Icon.
Grande has released three albums to date, all of which have been certified platinum. Her music videos have been watched more than 8 billion times online and in 2016, Time listed her as one of the 100 most influential people.