The Decade Belonged to Beyoncé

Beyoncé started the decade with a historic night at 2010 Grammys. The singer, who had released I Am... Sasha Fierce, won the most awards by a female artist in one night (the record was later tied by Adele in 2012). That night, Bey won best female R&B vocal performance, best R&B song, and song of the year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"; best female pop vocal performance for "Halo"; best traditional R&B vocal performance for "At Last"; and best contemporary R&B album for I Am... Sasha Fierce.

That year, Bey also released the now-iconic "Telephone" music video alongside Lady Gaga (who was also on her way to megafame) and dropped her documentary, I Am... World Tour, which gave fans a closer look at her 108-show tour that spanned from March 2009 to February 2010.

Summer 2011 was huge for Beyoncé. Not only did she become the first woman to headline Glastonbury in 12 years, but she also dropped her groundbreaking fourth studio album, 4. The release marked the end of her Sasha Fierce era (as well as her management ties to father Mathew Knowles) and the beginning of a new phase. The LP debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 list, and The New Yorker ranked it as the best album of 2011. Its standout tracks include "Love on Top," "Countdown," "1+1," and, of course, the feminist anthem "Run the World (Girls)."

That year, Bey also starred in two documentaries — Year of 4 and Live at Roseland: Elements of 4 — and performed at the Billboard Music Awards, where she accepted the millennium award.

Who could forget Beyoncé's epic pregnancy reveal at the MTV VMAs in August 2011? After an incredible performance of "Love on Top," the songstress had an actual mic drop moment when she suddenly unbuttoned her jacket to show off her growing belly.

After her unforgettable pregnancy reveal, Bey welcomed firstborn Blue Ivy Carter on Jan. 7, 2012, with husband JAY-Z. Things hardly slowed down for the new mom, though. In May, she made an onstage comeback at a her concert in Atlantic City, NJ. A little over a month later, she snagged two awards at the BET Awards: best female R&B artist and video director of the year.

Shock waves surged through fans (and, honestly, the world) when Beyoncé released her eponymous LP, Beyoncé, without any sort of warning. Prior to the drop, the biggest Beyoncé news of the year had been her documentary, Life Is But a Dream, and her Super Bowl halftime show with Destiny's Child. But those happenings couldn't hold a candle to her 14-track collection of bops. The shocking release broke an iTunes record, as 828,773 copies of Beyoncé were sold worldwide within three days. And so began the era of "Pretty Hurts," "Drunk in Love," "Partition," "XO," and "Flawless."

The following year, in 2014, Bey celebrated the album's success by dropping Beyoncé: Platinum Edition, which includes additional tracks, such as "Flawless (Remix)" with Nicki Minaj, which preceded their glorious 2015 collaboration, "Feeling Myself."

The remix of "Flawless" caused a stir after Beyoncé cleverly addressed one of 2014's biggest pop culture stories: Solange and JAY-Z's elevator fight. Ah, yes, that scandal. We'll probably never know what exactly happened when JAY-Z and Solange got into an altercation at the 2014 Met Gala. But in "Flawless (Remix)," Beyoncé sings, "Of course sometimes sh*t go down when it's a billion dollars on an elevator." Still, we'd like to know what that "sh*t" is. But it'll probably remain one of the greatest mysteries of all time.

Bey definitely got the recognition she deserved by topping Forbes's Celebrity 100 list in 2014. She received the honor after making $2.4 million per show during The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour and after selling more than 1 million copies of "Drunk in Love." However, Bey didn't get the top spot solely for her musical achievements. Forbes placed her at the highest position because, according to the outlet, "she's built a small business empire" (which isn't so small anymore). The publication cited her partnerships with H&M and Pepsi, as well as her fragrance line and her now-discontinued clothing company, House of Deréon, as reasons for her unbeatable placement on the list.

Relatively speaking, 2015 was a pretty quiet year for Bey. That being said, it was still major. There are a handful of highlights from the year: she dropped the surprise song "Die With You," unexpectedly performed with Destiny's Child at the Stellar Awards, and graced the cover of Vogue's coveted September issue. But one of most heartwarming high points was when she performed at the Global Citizen Festival and shared a hug with Michelle Obama, who was still the first lady at the time.

2016 marked the biggest turning point of Beyoncé's career, and you can't convince me otherwise. Starting with the surprise release of her politically charged video for "Formation," Bey transformed the social justice landscape. She didn't even give us time to catch our breaths before she performed the influential tune alongside Bruno Mars and Coldplay during the Super Bowl halftime show.

Three months later, she released the breathtaking visuals for her full Lemonade album — which The Associated Press named the album of the decade — and revealed an extremely vulnerable side of herself as she crooned about infidelity, social issues, and the Black experience. The LP was so impactful that when it was completely snubbed for album of the year at the 2017 Grammys, singer Adele — who won for 25 — honored Beyoncé during her acceptance speech. "I can't possibly accept this award. . . . My artist of my life is Beyoncé," she said. "And this album, to me, the Lemonade album, was just so monumental, Beyoncé, so monumental and so well thought out and so beautiful and soul-bearing." (Preach!)

And somehow, amid all the Lemonade mania, Bey also had time to launch her activewear line, Ivy Park (which is, thankfully, making a comeback in 2020).

Beyoncé broke the internet in February 2017 when she announced that she and JAY-Z were expecting twins. She shared a series of gorgeous maternity photos on Instagram, writing, "We are incredibly grateful that our family will be growing by two." Five months later, Bey and Jay welcomed twins Sir and Rumi Carter.

In addition to expanding her family, Beyoncé made her mark in 2017 by announcing the beneficiaries of her Formation Scholars program, which was created to help further the education of Black, female undergraduate and graduate students. She and JAY-Z certainly had a lot to give, considering they officially became a billion-dollar couple in 2017.

We're going to tell our children's children about Beyoncé's historic Coachella set. In 2018, the megastar commanded the stage at the music festival, delivering a two-hour set with stunning visuals, choreography, and costume changes. Beychella deserves its own chapter in history books.

Beyoncé didn't give us time to fully recover from her Coachella set before making it the focal point of her 2019 documentary, Homecoming. The two-hour masterpiece details the personal and cultural significance of Beyoncé's festive staging, with behind-the-scenes clips and stories about her journey. As if that wasn't enough, Bey dropped an accompanying LP, Homecoming: The Live Album, which features all the music from her Coachella production and even a few bonus tracks.

The year of Beychella, 2018, also included the singer's release of the joint album Everything Is Love with JAY-Z — which features highly acclaimed jam "Apesh*t" — and the start of their On the Run II Tour.

Months after kicking off the tour, Beyoncé made history again, thanks to her September Vogue cover story. Condé Nast artistic director and fashion luminary Anna Wintour gave the singer artistic control over the cover photo, prompting Bey to hire 23-year-old Tyler Mitchell as the photographer. This made him the first-ever Black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover. Continuing with her mission of uplifting the Black community, Beyoncé also donated $100,000 to four historically Black colleges — Xavier University of Louisiana, Wilberforce University, Tuskegee University, and Bethune-Cookman University — allowing each to award a student with a $25,0000 scholarship.

Beyoncé again proved that she knows no limitation by voicing Nala in Disney's record-breaking remake of The Lion King. And as a love letter to Africa, where the film takes place, she dropped a gorgeous soundtrack album, The Lion King: The Gift.

Queen Bey made her first red carpet appearance in three years at the Los Angeles premiere in July, joined by 7-year-old daughter Blue Ivy. A week later, she met Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at The Lion King's United Kingdom premiere.

Outside of the entertainment sphere, Bey was recognized in 2019 for her continued philanthropic efforts, earning the vanguard award at the GLAAD Media Awards, the entertainer of the year honor at the NAACP Image Awards, and the best international group Brit Award for her and JAY-Z's collaborative work as The Carters.

It's been a wild decade for Beyoncé, to say the least. We saw her develop and evolve into one of the world's most influential powerhouses, activists, and creatives. And we still can't help but think that her impact is only going to strengthen over the next 10 years. Time to get in formation, Beyhive.