Artist Janet Jackson

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Janet Jackson

No one would blame Janet Jackson if she wanted to take a couple years off following the 2009 death of her brother, Michael. She wasn’t hurting for cash (Forbes named Janet Jackson the seventh-richest woman in the entertainment industry in 2007, behind Mariah Carey and in front of Julia), and she hadn’t really made a critically embraced record since 1989’s Rhythm Nation 1814. Instead, Jackson took a critically acclaimed turn on the big screen in For Colored Girls and released Number Ones, a 35-song, two-disc set comprised exclusively of her chart-topping singles.

Updated 08/02/2011