50 Best Female Vocalists of the 2000s
Who are the best female vocalists of the 2000s?
No. 1 on Beatintel's 50 Best Female Vocalists of the 2000s is Beyoncé, followed by Christina Aguilera at No. 2 and Mariah Carey at No. 3. The full ranking covers 50 vocalists and was last updated in September 2026.
Top 10 at a glance
The 2000s were the last decade in which the big voice was the whole point. Before streaming flattened dynamics and after the nineties divas set the bar, a generation of singers built careers on technique: the runs of Christina Aguilera, the whistle register of Mariah Carey's comeback, the sixties soul of Amy Winehouse, the American Idol belters, the neo-soul phrasing of Erykah Badu and Jill Scott. This list ranks the fifty women whose voices defined the decade, judged on the singing itself and on the records made between 2000 and 2009 rather than on what came before or after. Chart success informs a place but never decides it. One entry per rank, a one-line case for each.
The Top 10: The Voices of the 2000s
Beyoncé
R&B/pop · Dangerously in Love (2003), B'Day (2006), I Am… Sasha Fierce (2008)
The voice of the decade: "Crazy in Love", "Irreplaceable", "Halo" and "Single Ladies", technique and power on a scale no pop star of the 2000s matched.
Also ranked: #9 Greatest Female Singers#10 Greatest Vocalists#25 Greatest Singers
Christina Aguilera
Pop/R&B · Stripped (2002), Back to Basics (2006)
The biggest pure voice in 2000s pop: "Beautiful", "Fighter" and "Ain't No Other Man", melisma and range that set the decade's technical bar.
Also ranked: #5 Greatest Vocalists#66 Greatest Singers
Mariah Carey
R&B/pop · The Emancipation of Mimi (2005)
"We Belong Together" was the biggest song of the decade on the Billboard charts and the comeback of the century; the whistle register still intact.
Also ranked: #1 Greatest Vocalists#11 Greatest Female Singers#28 Greatest Singers
Alicia Keys
R&B/soul · Songs in A Minor (2001), The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003)
"Fallin'" won three Grammys and "If I Ain't Got You" and "No One" followed; piano and a classic soul voice in the age of Auto-Tune.
Also ranked: #23 Greatest Female Singers#41 Greatest Singers#8 Best 2000s Songs
Amy Winehouse
Soul/jazz · Back to Black (2006)
"Rehab", "Back to Black" and five Grammys in one night; the sixties soul voice that changed British pop for the following decade, gone at 27.
Also ranked: #10 Greatest Female Singers#20 Greatest Singers#86 Greatest Vocalists
Adele
Pop/soul · 19 (2008)
"Chasing Pavements" and "Hometown Glory" announced her in 2008; by the decade's end the Grammy for Best New Artist and the voice that would own the 2010s.
Also ranked: #12 Greatest Female Singers#26 Greatest Singers#34 Greatest Vocalists
Kelly Clarkson
Pop/rock · Breakaway (2004)
The first American Idol winner and the one with the biggest voice: "Since U Been Gone" and "Because of You" made Breakaway one of the decade's best-selling albums.
Also ranked: #80 Greatest Vocalists#11 Best 2000s Songs#27 Greatest Pop Songs
Mary J. Blige
R&B/hip-hop soul · No More Drama (2001), The Breakthrough (2005)
"Family Affair" and "Be Without You", the latter with a record-breaking run at No. 1 on the R&B chart; the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul at her peak.
Also ranked: #27 Greatest Female Singers#45 Greatest Singers#74 Greatest Vocalists
Rihanna
Pop/R&B · Good Girl Gone Bad (2007)
"Umbrella", "Don't Stop the Music" and "Disturbia"; not the decade's most technical voice but its most distinctive, and the start of its biggest singles career.
Also ranked: #14 Best 2000s Songs#25 Greatest Pop Songs#47 Greatest Music Videos
Leona Lewis
Pop/R&B · Spirit (2007)
"Bleeding Love" was the best-selling single of 2008 worldwide; the X Factor winner with the biggest voice British TV ever produced.
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Powerhouses and Hitmakers: Ranks 11–30
Jennifer Hudson
R&B/soul · Jennifer Hudson (2008)
"And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" in Dreamgirls won the Oscar; the debut album won the Grammy. The decade's most powerful new soul voice.
Also ranked: #94 Greatest Vocalists
Norah Jones
Jazz/pop · Come Away with Me (2002)
Eight Grammys and more than twenty-five million copies for a debut of hushed jazz-pop; "Don't Know Why" made restraint the decade's alternative to belting.
Also ranked: #62 Greatest Singers#29 Best Love Songs#31 Best 2000s Songs
Shakira
Latin pop/rock · Laundry Service (2001), Oral Fixation (2005)
"Whenever, Wherever" and "Hips Don't Lie", the best-selling single of 2006; the yodelling vibrato that made her the biggest Latin crossover of the decade.
Also ranked: #29 Greatest Pop Songs
Pink
Pop/rock · Missundaztood (2001), I'm Not Dead (2006)
"Get the Party Started", "Just Like a Pill" and "So What"; a rock-schooled belt that outlasted every pop peer of her generation.
Also ranked: #46 Greatest Vocalists#26 Greatest Pop Songs
Celine Dion
Pop · A New Day Has Come (2002), A New Day… Las Vegas residency (2003–2007)
The Las Vegas residency that changed the industry, seven hundred shows and "A New Day Has Come"; the biggest voice of the nineties still at full power.
Also ranked: #6 Greatest Vocalists#13 Greatest Female Singers#34 Greatest Singers
Fantasia
R&B/soul · Free Yourself (2004)
The American Idol winner with the rawest voice of any: "I Believe" debuted at No. 1 and her Color Purple run on Broadway confirmed the gospel power.
Carrie Underwood
Country/pop · Some Hearts (2005), Carnival Ride (2007)
"Before He Cheats" and "Jesus, Take the Wheel"; the decade's best-selling country debut and its biggest country voice.
Taylor Swift
Country/pop · Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008)
Fearless won Album of the Year in 2010 and "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" made her the decade's last new superstar; the songwriting outran the voice, and the voice caught up.
Also ranked: #47 Greatest Female Singers#55 Greatest Singers#8 Greatest Pop Songs
Lady Gaga
Pop · The Fame (2008), The Fame Monster (2009)
"Poker Face", "Bad Romance" and a jazz-trained belt under the costumes; the pop voice that closed the decade and opened the next.
Also ranked: #42 Greatest Vocalists#60 Greatest Singers#10 Greatest Pop Songs
Nelly Furtado
Pop/R&B · Whoa, Nelly! (2000), Loose (2006)
"I'm Like a Bird" at the start of the decade and "Promiscuous" and "Say It Right" at its peak; two different voices for two different eras of pop.
Also ranked: #12 Best 2000s Songs
Gwen Stefani
Pop · Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004)
"Hollaback Girl" was the first digital single to sell a million; the No Doubt frontwoman as the decade's most stylish pop star.
Also ranked: #18 Best Female Rock Singers
Avril Lavigne
Pop-punk · Let Go (2002), Under My Skin (2004)
"Complicated" and "Sk8er Boi" made Let Go one of the best-selling debuts of the decade; the voice of pop-punk's mainstream moment.
Fergie
Pop/hip-hop · The Dutchess (2006)
"Big Girls Don't Cry", "Glamorous" and "London Bridge", five top-five singles from one album, plus the Black Eyed Peas' decade-defining run.
Duffy
Soul/pop · Rockferry (2008)
"Mercy" and the best-selling album in Britain in 2008; the Welsh singer who, with Winehouse and Adele, made retro soul the sound of the late 2000s.
Also ranked: #49 Best 2000s Songs
Joss Stone
Soul · The Soul Sessions (2003), Mind Body & Soul (2004)
A sixteen-year-old from Devon singing like Aretha; "Super Duper Love" and "You Had Me" made her the youngest woman to top the UK album chart.
Corinne Bailey Rae
Soul/jazz · Corinne Bailey Rae (2006)
"Put Your Records On" and a debut that went to No. 1 in Britain; the decade's warmest soul voice.
Erykah Badu
Neo-soul · Mama's Gun (2000), New Amerykah (2008)
"Bag Lady" and "Honey"; the queen of neo-soul, whose phrasing shaped a generation of R&B singers.
Also ranked: #26 Greatest Female Singers#44 Greatest Singers#24 Greatest R&B Songs
Jill Scott
Neo-soul · Who Is Jill Scott? (2000)
"A Long Walk" and "Golden"; spoken word and soul from Philadelphia, with three Grammys across the decade.
India.Arie
Neo-soul · Acoustic Soul (2001)
"Video" and "Brown Skin"; four Grammys and the decade's most grounded soul voice.
Chart Voices and Left-Field Singers: Ranks 31–50
Keyshia Cole
R&B · The Way It Is (2005), Just Like You (2007)
"Love", "Let It Go" and "I Remember"; the rawest R&B voice of the mid-2000s and its most consistent hitmaker.
Ashanti
R&B · Ashanti (2002)
"Foolish" and the biggest debut by a female artist in Billboard history at the time; the sound of Murder Inc.'s reign.
Ciara
R&B/crunk · Goodies (2004)
"Goodies", "1, 2 Step" and "Oh"; the First Lady of Crunk&B and the decade's best singer-dancer.
Also ranked: #60 Greatest R&B Songs
Kelly Rowland
R&B/pop · Simply Deep (2002)
"Dilemma" with Nelly spent ten weeks at No. 1; the Destiny's Child voice that stepped out first.
Brandy
R&B · Full Moon (2002), Afrodisiac (2004)
The vocal-layering on Full Moon and Afrodisiac made Brandy the singer other R&B singers study; the "vocal bible" nickname dates from this decade.
Also ranked: #100 Greatest Vocalists
Toni Braxton
R&B · The Heat (2000)
"He Wasn't Man Enough" won the Grammy; the deepest contralto in R&B at its peak of power.
Also ranked: #54 Greatest Vocalists#57 Greatest R&B Songs#67 Best Love Songs
Anastacia
Pop/soul · Not That Kind (2000), Freak of Nature (2001)
"I'm Outta Love" and "Left Outside Alone"; the biggest American voice of the decade that America never noticed, and one of Europe's best-selling artists.
Dido
Pop · No Angel (1999), Life for Rent (2003)
"Thank You", "White Flag" and two of the best-selling albums of the decade in Britain; the whisper that outsold the belters.
Also ranked: #54 Best Love Songs
Natasha Bedingfield
Pop · Unwritten (2004)
"Unwritten" and "These Words"; a sunny soul-pop voice and one of the decade's most-licensed songs.
KT Tunstall
Folk-rock/pop · Eye to the Telescope (2004)
"Suddenly I See" and "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree", the latter looped live on Later… with Jools Holland; Scotland's biggest singer of the decade.
Regina Spektor
Anti-folk/pop · Begin to Hope (2006)
"Fidelity" and "Samson"; Soviet-born, classically trained and the most original vocal stylist of 2000s indie.
Feist
Indie pop · The Reminder (2007)
"1234" in the iPod commercial and "Mushaboom"; the whisper-and-swing voice that defined Canadian indie's crossover.
Also ranked: #35 Best 2000s Songs
Björk
Art pop · Vespertine (2001), Medúlla (2004)
Medúlla was made almost entirely from the human voice; the decade's most adventurous singer, and its most awarded at the Polar Music Prize.
Also ranked: #31 Greatest Female Singers#40 Greatest Singers#11 Greatest Music Videos
Sia
Pop/indie · Colour the Small One (2004), Some People Have Real Problems (2008)
"Breathe Me" closed Six Feet Under and introduced the cracked, enormous voice that would write and sing the biggest pop songs of the following decade.
Also ranked: #76 Greatest Pop Songs
Hayley Williams
Pop-punk/rock · Riot! (2007), Brand New Eyes (2009)
"Misery Business" and "Decode"; the biggest new rock voice of the decade, from Warped Tour to the Twilight soundtrack.
Also ranked: #20 Best Female Rock Singers#93 Greatest Vocalists
Amy Lee
Rock/metal · Fallen (2003), The Open Door (2006)
"Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal"; Fallen sold seventeen million copies and won two Grammys, the decade's biggest rock debut by a female-fronted band.
Also ranked: #21 Best Female Rock Singers
Karen O
Indie rock · Fever to Tell (2003), Show Your Bones (2006)
"Maps" and the wildest live performances of 2000s New York; a scream and a whisper on the same song.
Also ranked: #19 Best Female Rock Singers
Natalie Maines
Country · Home (2002), Taking the Long Way (2006)
The Dixie Chicks' "Not Ready to Make Nice" won Song and Record of the Year after the band was blacklisted; the decade's most consequential country voice.
Miranda Lambert
Country · Kerosene (2005), Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2007)
"Kerosene" and "Gunpowder & Lead"; the country voice that ended the decade as the genre's critical favourite.
Susan Boyle
Pop/classical crossover · I Dreamed a Dream (2009)
The Britain's Got Talent audition seen by hundreds of millions, then the best-selling debut album in British chart history; the decade's last voice, and its most unexpected.
Florence Welch
Indie rock/pop · Lungs (2009)
Lungs went to No. 1 in Britain and "Dog Days Are Over" crossed to America; the decade closed with the voice that would dominate the next one's festivals.
Also ranked: #22 Best Female Rock Singers#28 Greatest Female Singers#47 Greatest Singers
How we ranked this list
Rankings are editorial. Each singer is weighed on technique and range, emotional command of a song, influence on the singers who came after, and the depth of their recorded work. Chart success informs a position but never decides it. Every entry carries a one-line rationale, and the list is revisited when new evidence or a fresh listen changes our view.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was the best female vocalist of the 2000s?
Beyoncé, on the combination of technique, power and the decade's biggest songs: "Crazy in Love", "Irreplaceable", "Halo" and "Single Ladies". Christina Aguilera had the bigger pure instrument and Mariah Carey the greater comeback; Amy Winehouse the most influential voice of the decade's second half.
Who had the best voice in 2000s pop?
Christina Aguilera. Stripped (2002) and Back to Basics (2006) showed a range and control no pop peer matched, and "Beautiful" remains the decade's definitive vocal ballad.
Who were the best R&B singers of the 2000s?
Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Brandy, Keyshia Cole, Ashanti, Ciara and Toni Braxton on the chart side; Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and India.Arie for neo-soul; Jennifer Hudson and Fantasia for gospel-trained power.
Which American Idol winner has the best voice?
Kelly Clarkson for range and the biggest catalogue, Fantasia for raw gospel power, Carrie Underwood for country precision; Jennifer Hudson, who finished seventh in 2004, went on to win the Oscar and the Grammy that none of the winners did.
Who were the best British female singers of the 2000s?
Amy Winehouse, Adele, Duffy, Leona Lewis, Joss Stone, Corinne Bailey Rae, Dido and Natasha Bedingfield; the retro-soul wave of 2006–2008 was the decade's most important British export in pop.
Who were the best-selling female artists of the 2000s?
Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Shakira, Norah Jones, Avril Lavigne, Pink, Alicia Keys and Rihanna led the decade's sales; Norah Jones's Come Away with Me and Alicia Keys's Songs in A Minor were among its best-selling debuts. This list ranks the voice rather than the sales, which is why several of the best-sellers place lower or are absent.
Who were the most popular female singers of the 2000s?
Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Rihanna, Shakira, Christina Aguilera, Avril Lavigne, Pink, Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson and Fergie sold the most and charted the highest. This list ranks the voice, so Britney Spears is absent and Rihanna places tenth; Beyoncé leads on both counts.
Who were the best female singers of the 2000s?
Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys and Amy Winehouse are Beatintel's top five, judged on the records made between 2000 and 2009. Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna and Leona Lewis complete the top ten of 50.
Who were the top female artists of the 2000s?
Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys and Amy Winehouse are the top five on Beatintel's ranking of the decade's voices, followed by Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna and Leona Lewis. See the full 50 below, each with a one-line case.
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