What Was Beyoncé’s First No. 1 Single?

Beyoncé Knowles is a global superstar, widely considered to be one of the most famous and beloved entertainers in the world. She has been in the spotlight for nearly two decades and continues to break new barriers every single day.

For many fans, it seems as though there was never a time when Beyoncé wasn’t hugely famous – still, even she had to start somewhere, and diehard members of the Bey-hive can likely remember the long-ago days when her first hit single circulated on the radio.

How did Beyoncé get started in music?

Beyoncé Knowles was born in Houston, Texas, in 1981. She began singing and dancing at a young age, and her teachers recognized and encouraged her talent. Before she was ten years old, Knowles had formed a group with her friend Kelly Rowland and LaTavia Robertson. The group would eventually become Destiny’s Child.

Mathew Knowles, Beyoncé’s father, helped to nourish the young group’s talent and chauffeured them around to meetings and performances. In the mid-nineties, Destiny’s Child secured a record deal and began to write and record music. Their unique look and sound placed them in a category all their own, although they received comparisons to iconic female-led groups like The Supremes. 

Destiny’s Child had several hit singles

Destiny’s Child released their debut album in 1998 and quickly began to climb the ladder of success. Their singles “Killing Time,” “No, No, No,” “Jumpin’ Jumpin'” and “Say My Name” became some of the biggest hits of the late nineties and early 2000s. With this success, Destiny’s Child started earning legions of fans. In spite of ongoing turmoil within the band, Destiny’s Child continued to perform consistently throughout the next few years, as well as write and record songs.

All in all, Destiny’s Child had four number one hit singles during the course of their time as a group, including “Say My Name,” “Independent Woman Part I,” “Bills, Bills, Bills,” and “Bootylicious.” They charted ten additional songs in the Billboard Top Ten. Still, as Beyoncé’s fame continued to increase, Destiny’s Child gradually fell by the wayside, and in 2002, she broke away to begin recording as a solo artist.

What was Beyoncé’s first number one song?

In 2003, Beyoncé released her very first solo album, Dangerously in Love. The album became a huge hit and spawned a huge milestone for the young artist: her first number-one single as a solo artist, “Crazy In Love.” As exciting as the song was for Beyoncé, it was probably less so for her fellow band members in Destiny’s Child. In fact, they would only last as a group for two more years, and in 2005, they announced they would be disbanding in order to work on other projects. 

In the years since, Beyoncé has managed to achieve a level of fame that many could only dream of. She has been named as one of the most influential people in the world and is the most-awarded artist of all time at the MTV Video Music Awards. It seems as though there isn’t a record that Beyoncé hasn’t broken at some point in her career. She has even branched out to work in movies, writing a song for the hit 2019 film The Lion King. She has even achieved acclaim as an actress in her own right, with roles in Dreamgirls, The Pink Panther, Obsessed, and Goldmember. 

An artist with global reach and international acclaim, Beyoncé isn’t likely to step away from the spotlight anytime soon. Her undeniable talent and drive have placed her in the pantheon of the greats.