Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. Considered a pop icon, she is known for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Jackson's sound and choreography became a catalyst in the growth of MTV, enabling her to rise to prominence while breaking gender and racial barriers in the process. Lyrical content that concerned social issues and deeply felt experiences contributed to the appeal of her work to the youth audience.
The tenth and youngest child of the Jackson family, Jackson starred in multiple television shows throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, including Good Times, Diff'rent Strokes and Fame. After signing with A&M Records in 1982, Jackson achieved global stardom with the albums Control (1986) and Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989). These projects led to crossover success in popular music and influenced the development of the new jack swing fusion genre. In the 1990s, Jackson became one of the highest-paid musicians, signing two of the largest music deals of all time with Virgin Records. She cemented her status as a sex symbol with a leading role in the film Poetic Justice (1993) and the albums Janet (1993) and The Velvet Rope (1997).
Jackson achieved her tenth US number-one single with the title track from her seventh studio album, All for You (2001). Following the controversy surrounding her 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, Jackson experienced a career decline. She faced an industry blacklisting under the direction of Les Moonves, then-CEO of CBS, resulting in reduced radio airplay, televised promotion, and sales figures of her music catalog. The aftermath impacted the commercial performance of her eighth studio album, Damita Jo (2004). Over the next decades, Jackson continued to perform and release new music, including the studio albums 20 Y.O. (2006), Discipline (2008), and Unbreakable (2015). Her tenth concert tour, Together Again Tour (2023–2024), became the highest-grossing tour of her career.
Jackson is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 100 million records. She holds the record for the most consecutive top-ten entries on the US Billboard Hot 100 by a female artist (18) and remains the only artist in the history of the chart to have seven singles from one album—Rhythm Nation 1814—peak within the top five positions. Billboard ranked her among the highest-charting musicians in history and the second-most successful artist of the 1990s. Her accolades include five Grammy Awards, 11 Billboard Music Awards, 11 American Music Awards, 10 MTV Video Music Awards and eight Guinness World Records entries. In 2019, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
