Britain's Little Mix are an exuberant, all-female pop and R&B outfit who shot to stardom after winning the eighth season of the British X Factor in 2011. Featuring the talents of singers Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and Jesy Nelson, the group grabbed audiences with their highly resonant vocal harmonies and charismatic stage presence, traits that helped lift their first single, "Cannonball," to number one in the U.K. They fared equally well with their 2012 full-length debut, DNA, which hit the Top Five in both the U.S. and the U.K., and spawned the number one British single "Wings." Subsequent albums like 2013's Salute, 2016's Glory Days, and 2018's LM5 have continued to gain chart attention while also showcasing Little Mix's growing maturity and empowered personas. In 2021, they compiled their hits on Between Us, which also featured the MNEK-produced track "Love (Sweet Love)."

Initially surpassing the achievements of One Direction and JLS by becoming the first group to win The X Factor in the U.K., Little Mix was the biggest success story to emerge from the competition's eighth season in 2011. Jade Thirlwall (who had auditioned for two previous series) and Perrie Edwards (both from South Shields), Jesy Nelson (from Romford, East London), and Leigh-Anne Pinnock (from High Wycombe) had all originally auditioned as solo artists, but like fellow acts Nu Vibe and the Risk, were put together as a group at the boot-camp stages. After impressing Jessie J and mentor N-Dubz's Tulisa Contostavlos at Judges' House, they made it to the live finals, where their engaging personalities, girl-next-door image, and contemporary song choices saw them outgrow their initial underdog status.

Originally dubbed Rhythmix, the girls were forced to change their moniker in week four after it was found that there was already a Brighton-based children's charity of the same name. But following stellar performances of En Vogue's "Don't Let Go," Katy Perry's "E.T.," and Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music," they beat the Conway Sisters and Hope's previous record to become the first girl band in the show's history to make it past week seven. After contributing to the high-profile M&S TV ad campaign and the finalists' charity cover version of Rose Royce's "Wishing on a Star," they eventually went on to triumph over Marcus Collins in the finale. The 2011 debut single from Little Mix, a rendition of Damien Rice's hit "Cannonball," went on to top the charts but scored the lowest first-week sales by an X Factor winner since Steve Brookstein's "Against All Odds" (2004), and later lost the coveted Christmas number one spot to the Military Wives Choir. DNA, featuring the singles "Cannonball" and "Wings" (also a U.K. number one), was released in late 2012, and eventually became the U.K.'s highest-charting debut album ever by a British female group.

In 2013, Little Mix returned with their sophomore album, Salute. Featuring production from such names as Future Cut, TMS, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the record showcased a more mature, R&B-infused direction. A string of U.S. dates in support of Demi Lovato took place in early 2014 before the summer brought the group's largest U.K. tour to date. "Black Magic," the first single from third album Get Weird, became Little Mix's third U.K. number one in 2015. Around the same time, Britney Spears released "Pretty Girls," a single co-written by the group, which reached number 16 in the U.K. Get Weird followed later that year, peaking at number two in the U.K. and number 13 on the Billboard 200.

The group's fourth studio album, the Electric-produced Glory Days, arrived in November 2016. It topped the U.K. albums chart and reached number 25 on the Billboard 200. Included on the release was the single "Shout Out to My Ex" as well as the track "Oops" featuring Charlie Puth. An extended version of the album arrived a year later. Little Mix promoted the effort into 2017, supporting Ariana Grande and headlining their own trek. After concluding a 2018 international summer tour, they returned with their fifth album, the aptly titled LM5. The first single from the effort, "Woman Like Me," featured an appearance by rapper Nicki Minaj and helped the album reach number three in the U.K. and 40 on the Billboard 200.

Early 2020 saw the group issue the single "Break Up Song," which was followed by "Holiday" in July. Both tracks appeared on their sixth album, Confetti, which arrived that November, hitting number two in the U.K. and reaching number 85 on the Billboard 200. A month after the record's release, founding member Jesy Nelson left the group to focus on her solo career. That September brought the group's own TV show to BBC One. As it progressed, Little Mix: The Search gave competing groups the chance to win a place on the quartet's Confetti tour. Also in 2021, they released the MNEK-produced single "Love (Sweet Love)" as part their greatest-hits compilation Between Us. ~ Matt Collar & Jon O'Brien

Since the dawn of the 2010s, Ty Dolla $ign has been steadily racking up hits, first with one of his many featured appearances and then with headlining singles on which his sly, explicitly hedonistic style of contemporary R&B was put on full display. After assisting the "worldwide underground" likes of Sa-Ra and Erykah Badu, Ty reached the mainstream through YG's "Toot It and Boot It" (2010), continued to gain hits as a collaborator, and as a solo artist narrowly missed the Top Ten with full-length projects such as Free TC (2015) and Beach House III (2017). Since then, he issued his third LP, the Top Ten Billboard 200-charting Featuring Ty Dolla $ign (2020). In 2021, he collaborated with dvsn for Cheers to the Best Memories and in 2023 joined forces with Kanye West to form a new project, ¥$, and work towards their debut album Vultures.

The singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, born Tyrone Griffin, Jr. -- the son of Tyrone Griffin, a musician who played with Lakeside and Teena Marie -- started making moves during the 2000s in his native Los Angeles. As one-half of Ty & Kory, the younger Griffin appeared on Sa-Ra's The Hollywood Recordings, Erykah Badu's New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War, and Shafiq Husayn's Shafiq En' A-Free-Ka, as well as Black Milk's Popular Demand. He reached the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in 2010 with YG's "Toot It and Boot It," for which he provided the hook. A pivotal moment, it preceded constant studio activity that resulted in solo and collaborative output issued throughout the decade.

Ty Dolla $ign made his major-label debut on Atlantic in 2013 with "Paranoid," which eventually went multi-platinum. "Or Nah," the follow-up, became his second single to hit the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot R&B Songs chart, and quickly went multi-platinum. Additional singles and appearances on commercial and underground releases alike led to the November 2015 release of Free TC, his debut album. Dedicated to his incarcerated brother, the guest-loaded set debuted at number 14 on the Billboard 200, boosted by "Blasé," "Saved," and "Wavy," all certified gold or platinum tracks.

During the next two years, Ty branched out stylistically as an accessory to pop hits such as Fifth Harmony's "Work from Home," the Suicide Squad: The Album smash "Sucker for Pain," and Jason Derulo's "Swalla." Major Lazer and Nick Jonas were also among the artists who enlisted his services, though these pop and club efforts were balanced out with assists for the likes of Fat Joe, 2 Chainz, and Meek Mill. As lead artist, the commercial mixtape Campaign arrived just ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election and became a Top 30 hit, highlighted by "No Justice," a sober protest song recorded with his still-jailed brother. Beach House III, Griffin's second proper album, was teased with genre-hopping singles involving Lil Wayne and the-Dream ("Love U Better"), and Damian Marley and Skrillex ("So Am I"). It hit number 11 upon its October 2017 release.

Griffin continued to excel primarily as a supporting artist for the next few years. Following a slew of collaborative one-offs highlighted by Post Malone's Hot 100-topping "Psycho" and Khalid's likewise multi-platinum "OTW," he and Jeremih partnered to jointly release the album MihTy. Ty co-starred on well over a dozen tracks in 2019, such as Kehlani's "Nights Like This," Megan Thee Stallion's number 11 hit "Hot Girl Summer," and Skrillex's "Midnight Hour," the last of which was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Dance Recording. In 2020, he headlined a clutch of singles, including July's "Ego Death," featuring Kanye West, FKA Twigs, and Skrillex, and in August's charting "Expensive," on which he was joined by Nicki Minaj. Both tracks paved the way for his third full-length, Featuring Ty Dolla $ign, which arrived that October and landed at number four on the Billboard 200. His first U.S. Top Ten debut, the album featured several more guest-featuring singles, including "Spicy" with Post Malone and "By Yourself" with Jhené Aiko and Mustard.

The following year, after appearing on their 2020 album A Muse in Her Feelings, Ty recorded a full-length collaboration with Canadian R&B duo dvsn titled Cheers to the Best Memories. He also guested on David Guetta's "Family," released in several different versions, with the one featuring Bebe Rexha racking up the most streams. In 2022, Ty released the Wiz Khalifa collaboration "Champions" and the Mustard-produced "My Friends" (featuring Lil Durk). He began the following year with a single titled "2022," then collaborated with Alesso on the song "Caught a Body" and issued the solo track "Motion." In 2023, Ty joined forces with Kanye West to form a new project, ¥$. The duo released their debut single "Vultures" in November of that year. They slowly leaked out information about the project in the lead-up to an oft-delayed debut full-length (also titled) Vultures, an album that potentially included guest appearances from a long list of famous guests including Kid Cudi, Playboi Carti, James Blake, and many more. ~ Andy Kellman