Usher

Quite possibly the most successful Star Searchcontestant ever, Usher is part of a wave of late-’90s/early-’00s mega-stars that could go down as the last generation of mammoth-selling artists that truly made pop music (as in “popular” on a massive scale). His 2004 album Confessions was one of the decade’s biggest blockbusters, spawning a series of commercial (and even critical) smashes like the Lil Jon-assisted “Yeah!” and “Burn.” As the music industry has been decentralized and fragmented, Usher hasn’t been quite as big, though sales for 2008’s Here I Stand and 2010’s Raymond V. Raymond and Versus were still pretty tremendous given current market conditions. Besides, Usher has a budding career as a mogul: His flaxen-locked protégé Justin Bieber has already put millions in his pockets.

Updated 05/11/2011