The 12 Best Rihanna Moments of 2012

Image via Complex Original

Date: January 25, 2012

Rihanna's tattoo choices become news stories, and none had more impact than the "THUG LIFE" ink she got at the top of the year. At this point, her tat is more popular on search engines than 2Pac's original. This was the first sign that 2012 was going to be a crazy year for Rihanna, but of course, it wouldn't be the last.

Date: August 2, 2012

Rihanna's second fragrance, Rebelle, is no gimmicky cash-in. In fact, it's the fastest-selling celebrity fragrance in the United Kingdom's history. Maybe it had something to do with her ridiculously sexy nude billboard ads for the scent. Apparently, everyone wants to smell like Rihanna. Who can blame them?

Date: August 19, 2012

We appreciate the fact that Rihanna's public image avoids leaning on the pain of her past, but she can't be an impenetrable rock star every second of every day. Sometimes it's nice to be reminded that she's a normal human being and see her vulnerability, which there was plenty of during her intimate interview with Oprah. Her "I still love" Chris Brown quote helped make it one of the highest-rated programs in the history of Oprah's network.

Date: May 2, 2012

Rihanna's Instagram name isn't "badgirlriri" for nothing. Her actions live up to the moniker, and she owns it with pride and grace. A prime example of this was when she hit up Perfections strip club in NYC, commanded strippers to bust it open, and subsequently made it rain dollar bills.

MMG rapper Meek Mill was in attendance that night, and even he couldn't keep up with her antics. Naturally, Rihanna's late-night exploits made headlines the next day.

Date: April 18, 2012

While you were waiting in line for beer at the year's biggest music festival, Rihanna was rolling a blunt on her bodyguard's head. When it comes to pop star divas, it doesn't get anymore gangster than that. On top of that, she smoked impressive amounts of weed backstage with Snoop Dogg and Warren G. We love a girl who knows how to party.

Date: September 6, 2012

A$AP Rocky had quite the come-up this year, and even with all of his solo hits, gracing the stage with Rihanna at the 2012 VMAs will likely go down as his "moment"—the official announcement that he'd arrived as a contemporary star. Rihanna has that power to raise a peer's profile, simply by association.

Rocky punctuated his live verse on her "Cockiness" remix with a scene-stealing ass grab and it just affirmed one thing we all knew: Rihanna is an irresistible object of desire for anyone who gets next to her.

Date: February 12, 2012

Rihanna was nominated for six statues at this year's 54th annual Grammy Awards. She didn't take home the coveted Album of the Year award for which she was nominated, but she did score two Grammys for her work on Kanye West's "All of the Lights," including her third Best Rap/Sung Collaboration Grammy.

Sales and chart performance guarantee that Rihanna will be revered for some time, but the confirmation of quality from the recording academy is an undeniable boost on her list of accomplishments.

Date: January 5, 2012

Music singles have been sold digitally for less than a decade, since 2004, and Rihanna has moved about 50 million of them, making her the best-selling digital artist in U.S. history. She outpaces peers like Black Eyed Peas, Eminem, and Lady Gaga by millions of units. Numbers don't lie, and when it comes to sales, Rihanna is the biggest artist of our time.

Date: November 19, 2012

At a mere 24 years old, Rihanna is on her seventh studio album, and yes, it's another smash hit. Unapologetic is some of the best, most engaging, and mature work of her career.

Massive sales and chart-topping singles are to be expected from Rihanna at this point, but really, it's the growth she's showing in her music that guarantees she will be relevant in our world for a very long time.

Date: February 20, 2012

Rihanna's tumultuous relationship with Chris Brown is well-documented, and like the boss that she is, RiRi took advantage of it in the ultimate way. On her birthday, she released a remix to her hit "Birthday Cake," featuring none other than Chris Brown. It was their first collaboration since the domestic abuse incident, and it was shocking—just like Rihanna planned it.

From the surreal nature of the event, to the lyrics themselves ("I wanna fuck you right now"), the "Birthday Cake" remix was instantly one of the boldest moves of Rihanna's career.

Date: November 14-20, 2012

When Rihanna takes 150 fans and journalists with her on a one-week world tour, the world watches and listens. Seriously. There were so many tweets from the event that we put together an "oral history" based on them, and the unpredictable tides of the tour became the story itself.

For all of the drama, Rihanna pulled this insane feat off, and even in the face of criticism about her minimal interaction with those fans and journalists, she emerged a winner.

Date: November 22, 2012

It's awesome that Rihanna has a fun personality. It's great that we can rely on entertaining antics from her on a weekly basis. But it's important to never lose sight of the fact that she's consistently making music history.

On Thanksgiving, she scored her 12th No. 1 single with "Diamonds," becoming the youngest artist to ever reach the feat. She's also done it the fastest, and only the Beatles, Michael Jackson, and Mariah Carey have more chart-toppers than her.

Rihanna could stop making music tomorrow and the statistics would already say that her run has been legendary. Well done.