SZA‘s 2023 has been a life-changing one. She said so in a heartfelt social media post celebrating the one-year anniversary of her chart-topping, Grammy-nominated smash album, SOS. Not only did SZA, born Solána Imani Rowe, break records, grace covers of renowned magazines and snag genre-spanning collaborations, this year she lived out her career “wildest dreams” as one of the biggest hip-hop, R&B and pop artists of modern-day music.
Here’s a snapshot of a few events that contributed to SZA’s impressive 2023:
Awards
— At the BET Awards, SZA took home three trophies: Video of the Year for “Kill Bill,” Album of the Year for SOS and Best Female R&B/Pop Artist.
— At the BET Soul Train Awards, she won four of the nine awards she was nominated for: Best R&B/Soul Female Artist, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and The Ashford & Simpson Songwriter’s Award for “Snooze.”
— SZA led the Billboard Music Awards with 16 nods, taking home four awards: Top R&B Artist, Top Female R&B Artist, Top R&B Song for “Snooze” and Top R&B Album.
— At the MTV Video Music Awards, SZA took home a Best R&B trophy for “Shirt.”
— SZA earned nominations at the NAACP Image Awards, MTV Europe Music Awards, MTV’s Millennial Awards and the UK Music Video Awards.
— After only receiving one nomination in 2023, SZA is the most-nominated artist heading into the 2024 Grammy Awards. SOS is up for Album of the Year and Best Progressive R&B Album; “Kill Bill” is up for Record of the Year; “Snooze” nabbed a nod for Best R&B Song. SZA has nine chances to add her Grammy collection, which is currently comprised of her 2022 win for Pop Duo/Group Performance.
Billboard chart achievements
SOS
— Debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200
— Broke the record for the biggest streaming week for an R&B album by a woman with 404.6 million streams, per Luminate
— After topping the Billboard 200 for 10 weeks, became the first R&B album by a woman to hit the double-digit mark since Mariah Carey‘s self-titled debut
— Broke Aretha Franklin‘s 54-year-old record after notching 18 weeks atop the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart
“Kill Bill”
— Marked SZA’s first #1 on the Hot 100
— Spent a history-making 21 weeks atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, surpassing the 20-week run of “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X
— Notched 50 weeks on the Hot 100
“Snooze”
— Spent every week of the year on the Hot 100
— Reached #1 on the Radio Songs chart
Magazine spreads
Billboard Woman of the Year
Variety Hitmaker of the Year
Wall Street Journal Music Innovator
Rolling Stone October
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