15 Ashanti
Though she’s fallen off the radar a bit in recent years, Long Island’s Ashanti had a simply huge 2002. Her eponymous debut album, which contained the hit single “Foolish,” was record breaking in more ways than one. It set a Soundscan record as the biggest opening week sales for a new female artist, besting debuts by both Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill. In the same week, she became the first female performer to simultaneously hold the top two places on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with “Foolish,” and her collaboration with Fat Joe, “What’s Luv?”
And she wasn’t done there. Ashanti broke records again by having three top ten songs, “Foolish,” “What’s Luv?” and “Always on Time,” on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the same week, being the first woman to accomplish this feat and being second only to the Beatles.
