Ariana Grande's rise to fame: From school plays to Platinum albums

She’s achieved so much! 👑

Ariana Grande © Getty Images

Author: Emma Dodds

Published 9th Jul 2024

Ariana Grande has achieved SO much in her 31 years on this planet! After starting out on Nickelodeon at just 16, Ariana flourished into an international megastar, releasing hit after hit, including ‘One Last Time’, ‘Thank U, Next’, ‘Positions’ and ‘Rain On Me’ with Lady Gaga.

To celebrate all of her incredible achievements so far – from her chart-topping albums to her iconic TV/film appearances, awards AND upcoming role in the Wicked movie – we’ve put together a timeline charting her incredible milestones over the last decade.

From starting out at such a young age, let’s take a look at her meteoric rise to fame after the release of her seventh album ‘Eternal Sunshine’ – including her brand R.E.M. Beauty‘s latest exciting tease and her single ‘yes, and?’.

Ariana Grande’s career: Her biggest highlights so far

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Early life

Ariana was born in Florida in 1993 to CEO Joan Grande and company owner Edward Butera, who had recently moved the family from New York to the sunshine state. As a child growing up in Florida, she enjoyed taking part in school plays. Ariana then moved to New York as a young teenager, and in 2008 she starred in the Broadway musical 13.

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2010 – 2013: Victorious

After that she moved onto a Nickleodeon TV series called Victorious, where she played the role of Cat Valentine. Following four seasons on Victorious she then starred in two seasons of the spin-off series Sam & Cat before taking roles other TV and theatre roles.

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2011: ‘Give It Up’

Her move towards music started in 2011 when she featured on the ‘Music from Victorious’ album singing ‘Give It Up’ with her co-star Elizabeth Gillies.

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2013: Debut album

In 2013, the singer released her debut album, ‘Yours Truly’, which she described as a “throwback” to the R&B music of the 1990s. The first single released from her album was ‘The Way’ and featured her former boyfriend Mac Miller.

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2014: ‘Problem’

It wasn’t until 2014 and the single ‘Problem’ that Ariana Grande saw chart success in the UK. The music video for the song, featuring Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, won Best Pop Video at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards and has now been viewed more than 1 billion times on YouTube.

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2014: Jessie J collaboration

Following ‘Problem’ Ariana had a number of top 10 hits in the UK, including ‘Bang Bang’ with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj in 2014, working with Nicki once again on ‘Side to Side’. She also saw huge success with ‘One Last Time’, which appeared on her second album ‘My Everything’, released in August 2014. In May 2024, the song was certified 4x Platinum by the BPI – translating to over 2.4 MILLION sales in the UK alone.

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2016: ‘Dangerous Woman’

Ariana also embarked on her biggest tour to date – the ‘Dangerous Woman Tour’ supporting her third album ‘Dangerous Woman’. Devastatingly, her show at Manchester Arena on 22nd May 2017 ended with a horrific tragedy when a bomb killed 22 people and injured many others.

Following the terrible events of that night, messages of support for those affected poured in from around the world, including many from pop stars and celebrities.

Ariana, along with her team, worked quickly to put on a show that would bring everyone together at such a difficult time. Less than two weeks after the attack, the One Love Manchester benefit concert took place, with a line-up that included Katy Perry, Little Mix, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and many more artists – as well as Ariana herself.

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2018: ‘Sweetener’

Ariana understandably took some time off during 2017, but returned in August 2018 with her ‘Sweetener’ album which peaked at Number 1 in the UK and US, as well as many other countries around the world. It catalogued her dealing with everything she’d been through, as well as her relationship with Pete Davidson, which ended in October 2018.

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2018: ‘thank u, next’

Ariana suffered yet more loss in 2018 when her ex-boyfriend and close friend Mac Miller passed away. She paid tribute to him in beautiful Instagram posts, and even referenced him as an “angel” in her song ‘thank u, next’ – which practically broke the Internet with its incredible music video, taking inspiration from many iconic 90s and 00s teen films like Mean Girls.

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2019: ‘thank u, next’ Take 2

…But Ari wasn’t done there! Releasing her second album in less than six months, the album ‘thank u, next’ came out in February 2019, again topping the charts all over the world.

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2019: Honoured with a waxwork

Ariana’s waxwork at Madame Tussaud’s was unveiled on Tuesday 21st May for an exclusive five-week residency starting on Friday 24th May. The final design of Ariana was chosen by fans, and Steve Davies, General Manager at Madame Tussauds London, said, “There is no doubt about it – Ariana Grande is one of the biggest female pop-superstars in the world right now and rightfully deserves this residency at Madame Tussauds London.

“Fans have been asking that Ariana’s figure join our A List line up for some time and we loved working with them to decide the star’s outfit. Much like the lady herself, Ariana’s figure will be making her London appearance for a limited time only so Arianators should be quick to grab a chance to ‘meet’ their idol!”

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2019: Charlie’s Angels reboot

Ariana co-executive produced the soundtrack to the 2019 reboot of Charlie’s Angels, singing the title track ‘Don’t Call Me Angel’ with Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey.

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2020: Potential casting in the live-action Hercules?

Ari took part in the Disney Family Singalong during lockdown in April 2020, singing ‘I Won’t Say I’m In Love’ from Hercules – sparking calls for her to play the role of Meg in the upcoming Disney live-action remake of the 1997 animated original.

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2020: Surprise release of her sixth album

Ariana announced in October 2020 that her sixth album would be released that month! At the time, she released no other information about the record, keep her fans in total suspense.

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2020: The release of her sixth album ‘positions’

Ari then released her sixth album ‘positions’ just two weeks later on Friday 30th October 2020 – and fans were over the moon!

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Ariana Grande © YouTube

2021: Ariana, Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion

In 2021, Ariana released a remix of her track ’34+35′ that featured on her album ‘positions’. The track, ’34+35 Remix’, features huge names Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion and was a massive hit with fans. Later that year, Ariana returned the favour to Doja Cat, featuring on ‘I Don’t Do Drugs’ from Doja’s third album ‘Planet Her’.

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2021: Ari joins the judging panel for The Voice

In March 2021, Ariana was announced to be joining the judging panel for The Voice US! She’ll be replacing Nick Jonas on the panel and sit alongside Kelly Clarkson, John Legend and Blake Shelton when the show returns in September 2021.

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2021: Ariana Grande announced for new Wicked film

Ariana Grande was announced as Glinda in the upcoming film adaptation of Wicked, which is also star Cynthia Erivo. Ariana has been a fan of Wicked for many years, even taking part in an NBC special called A Very Wicked Halloween, to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the musical.

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2021: Ariana Grande releases her R.E.M. Beauty make-up range

In September 2021, Ariana Grande announced that she is launching her own beauty brand called R.E.M. Beauty.

The make-up range was then launched in November 2021 and is described on the website as: ‘r.e.m. beauty was created to empower you with the tools you need to bring your most vivid, limitless, and creative dreams to life.

‘Our products blend otherworldly ideas with real world innovation to inspire you to explore what creativity means to you.’

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2021: Ariana Grande stars in Netflix film Don’t Look Up

Ariana starred in the Netflix comedy drama Don’t Look Up, written and directed by Academy Award winner Adam McKay. Ariana plays world-famous musician Riley Bina, who performs a song. According to Adam, the singer improvised some of the song which he immediately thought: “Oh, that’s going in the movie”.

Don’t Look Up also stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as astronomers try to convince the world that there is a comet threatening to wipe out life on Earth.

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2022: Ariana Grande releases Chapter 2 of her R.E.M. Beauty make-up range

In March 2022, Ariana released Chapter 2 of her R.E.M. Beauty make-up range. The singer shared a number of photos on her social media along with a promotional video.

In May, Ari shared a video on r.e.m. beauty’s official YouTube, where she lead a makeup tutorial using products from both Chapters.

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2022: Ariana is announced as a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race

On 14th December 2022, the exciting news was announced that Ariana Grande would be returning to the RuPaul’s Drag Race judging panel!

Both the show’s official socials, and Ariana herself, confirmed the exciting news, revealing that she would be making her Ru-turn as a guest judge for season 15, which would air in January 2023.

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2023: First look at Ariana in Wicked movie released

On 16th April 2023, fans got their first look at Ariana in the Wicked movie! Sharing two posts, we also got to see Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba. With the first of the two films set for release on 22nd November 2024, you can see the first look images and everything else we know about the Wicked film here.

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2023: Ari’s R.E.M. Beauty voted Best Celebrity Beauty Brand

In September 2023, Ariana’s make-up brand R.E.M. Beauty was awarded the Cosmopolitan Reader’s Choice Award for the Best Celebrity Beauty Brand! Just two years after the brand’s official launch, and shortly after it launching its first Sweetener foundation – a 60-shade skin care-infused range – Ari celebrated the win on Instagram, writing: ‘thank you @cosmopolitan readers for voting for @r.e.m.beauty ! we are so grateful (and we feel like we’re just getting started) 🥲♡’. (sic)

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2024: Ariana drops new single ‘yes, and?

Ariana dropped her first solo music in three years on 12th January, an epic new single called ‘yes, and?’ which later appeared on her seventh album, ‘Eternal Sunshine’, which was released in March 2024. The song was an instant hit, flying to the Number 1 spot on the US Billboard Hot 100, and bagging the Number 2 spot in the UK Chart. Just one month after the vogue-like music video premiered on YouTube, it amassed over an impressive 40 million views.

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2024: Ariana releases a remix track with Mariah Carey

On 16th February 2024, Ariana released a remixed version of her hit ‘yes, and ?’ with Mariah Carey! Citing the global superstar as the ‘queen of my heart and lifelong inspiration’, Ariana thanks Mariah for ‘sprinkling your brilliance and magic on my little song’. The ‘yes, and ?’ remix was released alongside an accompanying lyric video of Ariana’s YouTube channel.

Listen to Ariana Grande and Mariah Carey’s ‘yes, and ?’ remix here on YouTube.

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2024: Ariana releases seventh album ‘Eternal Sunshine’

In January 2024, Ariana Grande delighted fans by announcing her highly-anticipated seventh album, ‘Eternal Sunshine’, which was released on 8th March 2024. Containing tracks like ‘yes, and?’, ‘the boy is mine’ and ‘imperfect for you’, it was an instant hit with fans who loved how raw yet uplifting the record is. It scored a Number 1 in both the UK and the US, plus plenty of other countries around the world.

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2024: r.e.m. beauty X Wicked make-up collection

Just a week after the incredible official trailer for the Wicked movie dropped, Ariana upped the excitement as she teased her cosmetic brand r.e.m. beauty would launching a new collection inspired by the movie.

Sharing an image of the collection’s packaging, which looked like a book with Wicked-inspired imagery, fans could see the r.e.m. beauty branding alongside the Wicked movie’s. Despite not divulging any further details, it’s fair to say the post got fans extremely excited.

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2024: Ariana teases an ‘Eternal Sunshine’ tour

In between all of her other projects, Ari teased in July 2024 that she’d love to perform her ‘Eternal Sunshine’ album – but not as one of her typical tours: “It’s definitely, for a multitude of reasons, not going to be a tour in the way I used to tour. It’d be a mini little sampling of shows. I do think it’d be really nice to do that. It’s something that me and my team are working on.”

Ariana Grande’s rise to fame: From school plays to Platinum albums