Aaliyah Dana Haughton ( ah-LEE-ə; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer, actress, dancer, and model. Known as the "Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop", she is credited with helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop, and hip hop. Her accolades include three American Music Awards and two MTV VMAs, along with five Grammy Award nominations.
Aaliyah Dana Haughton ( ah-LEE-ə; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer, actress, dancer, and model. Known as the "Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop", she is credited with helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop, and hip hop. Her accolades include three American Music Awards and two MTV VMAs, along with five Grammy Award nominations.
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Detroit, Aaliyah first gained recognition at the age of 10, when she appeared on the television show Star Search and performed in concert alongside Gladys Knight. At the age of 12, she signed with Jive Records and her uncle Barry Hankerson's Blackground Records. Hankerson introduced her to R. Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number (1994). The album sold three million copies in the US and was certified double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Her first single, "Back & Forth", rose to number five on the Billboard Hot 100. After allegations of an illegal marriage with Kelly, she ended her contract with Jive and signed with Atlantic Records.
Aaliyah worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott for her second album, One in a Million (1996), which sold three million copies in the US and more than eight million copies worldwide. She made her acting debut in the action film Romeo Must Die. Its soundtrack was supported by her single "Try Again", the first song to top the Billboard Hot 100 solely through airplay. She subsequently filmed her starring role in Queen of the Damned (2002; released posthumously) and released her third album, Aaliyah (2001), which topped the Billboard 200. The album spawned the singles "We Need a Resolution", "Rock the Boat", and "More Than a Woman".
On August 25, 2001, at the age of 22, Aaliyah was killed in a plane crash along with eight other people on board, when the overloaded aircraft she was traveling in crashed shortly after takeoff. The pilot was later found to have traces of cocaine and alcohol in his body and was not qualified to fly the aircraft designated for the flight. Her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the aircraft's operator, which was settled out of court. After her death, her music has continued to achieve commercial success, aided by several posthumous releases, including the compilation albums I Care 4 U (2002) and Ultimate Aaliyah (2005). She has sold 8.1 million albums in the US and an estimated 24 to 32 million albums worldwide.
Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born on January 16, 1979, in Brooklyn, New York, the younger child of Diane (née Hankerson) and Michael "Miguel" Haughton, a warehouse worker. She was of African-American, Jamaican, and Native American descent. Her name is the feminine form of the Arabic "Ali", meaning "highest, most exalted one, the best." She was fond of her name, calling it "beautiful" and saying she was "very proud of it" and strove to live up to her name every day. When she was five years old, her family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where she was raised along with her older brother, Rashad. In Detroit, her father began working in the warehouse business, one of his brother-in-law Barry Hankerson's widening interests. Her mother stayed home and raised her and her brother. Her mother enrolled her in voice lessons at an early age. Eventually, she started performing at weddings, church choir, and charity events. She attended a Catholic school, Gesu Elementary, where in first grade she was cast in the stage play Annie, which inspired her to become an entertainer.
Aaliyah's mother was a vocalist, and her uncle Hankerson was an entertainment lawyer who had been married to Gladys Knight. As a child, she traveled with Knight and worked with an agent in New York City to audition for commercials and television programs, including Family Matters. After failing to land a role on the show, she continued her acting through the Gesu Players. In 1989, at age ten, she appeared on Star Search, where she performed "My Funny Valentine". She chose to begin auditioning, while her mother made the decision to drop her surname. She auditioned for several record labels and at age 11 appeared in concerts alongside Knight. After attending a Gladys Knight concert with music executive Suge Knight, and seeing Aaliyah perform on stage, rapper Tupac Shakur wanted to sign her to a record deal.
Aaliyah attended Detroit schools and believed she was well-liked, but she was teased for her short stature. By age 15, however, she came to love her height. Her mother told her to be happy she was small and complimented her. Although some children disliked her, she determined that "you always have to deal with people who are jealous, but there were so few it didn't even matter. The majority of kids supported me, which was wonderful." Even in her adult life, she considered herself small. She "learned to accept and love" herself and added that "the most important thing is to think highly of yourself because if you don't, no one else will."
During Aaliyah's audition for acceptance to the Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts, she sang "Ave Maria" in Latin. She held a 4.0 grade-point average when graduating from high school, stating that "I wanted to keep that 4.0. Being in the industry, you know, I don't want kids to think, 'I can just sing and forget about school.' I think it's very important to have an education, and even more important to have something to fall back on." She considered a future career teaching music, music history or drama if she did not make a living as a recording artist because "when you pick a career it has to be something you love."
Aaliyah Dana Haughton ( ah-LEE-ə; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer, actress, dancer, and model. Known as the "Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop", she is credited with helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop, and hip hop. Her accolades include three American Music Awards and two MTV VMAs, along with five Grammy Award nominations.
Aaliyah Dana Haughton ( ah-LEE-ə; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer, actress, dancer, and model. Known as the "Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop", she is credited with helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop, and hip hop. Her accolades include three American Music Awards and two MTV VMAs, along with five Grammy Award nominations.
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Detroit, Aaliyah first gained recognition at the age of 10, when she appeared on the television show Star Search and performed in concert alongside Gladys Knight. At the age of 12, she signed with Jive Records and her uncle Barry Hankerson's Blackground Records. Hankerson introduced her to R. Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number (1994). The album sold three million copies in the US and was certified double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Her first single, "Back & Forth", rose to number five on the Billboard Hot 100. After allegations of an illegal marriage with Kelly, she ended her contract with Jive and signed with Atlantic Records.
Aaliyah worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott for her second album, One in a Million (1996), which sold three million copies in the US and more than eight million copies worldwide. She made her acting debut in the action film Romeo Must Die. Its soundtrack was supported by her single "Try Again", the first song to top the Billboard Hot 100 solely through airplay. She subsequently filmed her starring role in Queen of the Damned (2002; released posthumously) and released her third album, Aaliyah (2001), which topped the Billboard 200. The album spawned the singles "We Need a Resolution", "Rock the Boat", and "More Than a Woman".
On August 25, 2001, at the age of 22, Aaliyah was killed in a plane crash along with eight other people on board, when the overloaded aircraft she was traveling in crashed shortly after takeoff. The pilot was later found to have traces of cocaine and alcohol in his body and was not qualified to fly the aircraft designated for the flight. Her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the aircraft's operator, which was settled out of court. After her death, her music has continued to achieve commercial success, aided by several posthumous releases, including the compilation albums I Care 4 U (2002) and Ultimate Aaliyah (2005). She has sold 8.1 million albums in the US and an estimated 24 to 32 million albums worldwide.
Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born on January 16, 1979, in Brooklyn, New York, the younger child of Diane (née Hankerson) and Michael "Miguel" Haughton, a warehouse worker. She was of African-American, Jamaican, and Native American descent. Her name is the feminine form of the Arabic "Ali", meaning "highest, most exalted one, the best." She was fond of her name, calling it "beautiful" and saying she was "very proud of it" and strove to live up to her name every day. When she was five years old, her family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where she was raised along with her older brother, Rashad. In Detroit, her father began working in the warehouse business, one of his brother-in-law Barry Hankerson's widening interests. Her mother stayed home and raised her and her brother. Her mother enrolled her in voice lessons at an early age. Eventually, she started performing at weddings, church choir, and charity events. She attended a Catholic school, Gesu Elementary, where in first grade she was cast in the stage play Annie, which inspired her to become an entertainer.
Aaliyah's mother was a vocalist, and her uncle Hankerson was an entertainment lawyer who had been married to Gladys Knight. As a child, she traveled with Knight and worked with an agent in New York City to audition for commercials and television programs, including Family Matters. After failing to land a role on the show, she continued her acting through the Gesu Players. In 1989, at age ten, she appeared on Star Search, where she performed "My Funny Valentine". She chose to begin auditioning, while her mother made the decision to drop her surname. She auditioned for several record labels and at age 11 appeared in concerts alongside Knight. After attending a Gladys Knight concert with music executive Suge Knight, and seeing Aaliyah perform on stage, rapper Tupac Shakur wanted to sign her to a record deal.
Aaliyah attended Detroit schools and believed she was well-liked, but she was teased for her short stature. By age 15, however, she came to love her height. Her mother told her to be happy she was small and complimented her. Although some children disliked her, she determined that "you always have to deal with people who are jealous, but there were so few it didn't even matter. The majority of kids supported me, which was wonderful." Even in her adult life, she considered herself small. She "learned to accept and love" herself and added that "the most important thing is to think highly of yourself because if you don't, no one else will."
During Aaliyah's audition for acceptance to the Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts, she sang "Ave Maria" in Latin. She held a 4.0 grade-point average when graduating from high school, stating that "I wanted to keep that 4.0. Being in the industry, you know, I don't want kids to think, 'I can just sing and forget about school.' I think it's very important to have an education, and even more important to have something to fall back on." She considered a future career teaching music, music history or drama if she did not make a living as a recording artist because "when you pick a career it has to be something you love."
After Hankerson signed a distribution deal with Jive Records, he signed Aaliyah to his Blackground Records label at the age of 12. Hankerson later introduced her to recording artist and producer R. Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her first album, recorded when she was 14. Her debut album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, was released under her mononym "Aaliyah", by Jive and Blackground Records on May 24, 1994; it debuted at number 24 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 38,000 copies in its first week. It peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200 and it was certified two times Platinum by the RIAA. To date, the album has sold over 3 million copies in the US. In Canada, the album was certified gold by Music Canada for 50,000 copies in shipments. In 2014, Vibe magazine estimated that the album had sold six million copies globally.
Upon its release, Age Ain't Nothing But a Number received generally favorable reviews from music critics. Some writers noted that Aaliyah's "silky vocals" and "sultry voice" blended with Kelly's new jack swing helped define R&B in the 1990s. Her sound was also compared to that of female quartet En Vogue. Christopher John Farley of Time magazine called the album a "beautifully restrained work", noting that her "girlish, breathy vocals rode calmly on R. Kelly's rough beats." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic felt that the album had its "share of filler", but described the singles as "slyly seductive." He also wrote that the songs on the album were "frequently better" than that of Kelly's second studio album, 12 Play. Billboard criticized the single "At Your Best (You Are Love)" for being out of place on the album and for its length.
Aaliyah's debut single, "Back & Forth", peaked at number 5 on the Hot 100 and topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for three weeks. Two more singles charted: a cover of the Isley Brothers' "At Your Best (You Are Love)" peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the album's title track, "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number", peaked at number 75. Additionally, she released "The Thing I Like" as part of the soundtrack to the 1994 film A Low Down Dirty Shame. In August 1995, she was featured on the single remix to Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s song "I Need You Tonight."
In February 1996, Aaliyah was featured on the Kris Kross single "Live and Die for Hip Hop", which also featured Jermaine Dupri (the song's producer) and rapper Da Brat. That year, she left Jive Records and signed with Atlantic Records. She worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott, who contributed to her second studio album, One in a Million. Elliott recalled Timbaland and herself being nervous to work with Aaliyah, since the latter had already released her successful debut album while Elliott and Timbaland were just starting out. Elliott also feared that Aaliyah would be a diva, but reflected that she "came in and was so warming; she made us immediately feel like family." The album yielded the lead single "If Your Girl Only Knew", which peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for two weeks. It also generated the singles "Hot Like Fire" and "4 Page Letter". One in a Million peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200, and was certified double platinum by the RIAA on June 16, 1997, denoting shipments of two million copies. The album went on to sell 3 million copies in the US and over eight million copies worldwide. The year after her album was released, she was featured on Timbaland & Magoo's debut single, "Up Jumps da Boogie".
In 1997, Aaliyah graduated with a 4.0 GPA from the Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts, where she majored in drama. The same year, she began her acting career, playing herself in the police drama television series New York Undercover. During this time, she participated in the Children's Benefit Concert, a charity concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York. She also became the spokesperson for the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. During her campaign with Tommy Hilfiger, the company sold over 2,400 pairs of the red, white and blue baggy jeans she wore in their advertisements. In December 1997, she performed the Christmas carol "What Child Is This?" at the annual Christmas in Washington television special. She also contributed to the soundtrack album for the animated film Anastasia, performing a cover version of "Journey to the Past" that earned songwriters Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. She performed the song at the 70th Academy Awards, becoming the youngest singer to perform at the event. Also in 1998, she released the song "Are You That Somebody?", which was featured on the Dr. Dolittle soundtrack. The song peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned her her first Grammy Award nomination.
In 1999, Aaliyah landed her first big-screen acting role in Romeo Must Die. She starred opposite martial artist Jet Li, playing a couple who fall in love amid their warring families. Released on March 24, 2000, the movie grossed US$18.6 million in its first weekend, ranking number two at the box office. She purposely stayed away from reviews of the film to "make it easier on" herself, but heard "that people were able to get into me, which is what I wanted." In contrast, some critics felt there was no chemistry between her and Li, as well as viewing the film as too simplistic. This was echoed by Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times, who wrote that while she was "a natural" and the film was conceived as a spotlight for both her and Li, "they have so little chemistry together you'd think they're putting out a fire instead of shooting off sparks. In addition to acting, she served as an executive producer of the film's soundtrack, for which she contributed four songs. "Try Again" was released as a single from the soundtrack; the song topped the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first artist to top the chart based solely on airplay; this led the song to be released in a 12-inch vinyl and 7-inch single. The music video won the Best Female Video and Best Video from a Film awards at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. It also earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist. The soundtrack went on to sell 1.5 million copies in the United States.
From the very beginning, Aaliyah opted "for an edgier, more mature sound", and her songs were often both uptempo and dark, revolving around "matters of the heart". She "easily straddled the hip-hop and pop worlds, never projecting the frilliness of her ingénue peers". After her R. Kelly-produced debut album, she worked with Timbaland and Missy Elliott, whose productions were more electronic. The duo "mixed choppy, nervous rhythms over loops of computer-generated backing tracks, and incorporating harmonies which – within the genre's limited horizons – seemed daring". They also created the "freeze-and-stop style of singing on top of bass-heavy instrumentals" that became Aaliyah's signature style. In 2001, she called her sound "street but sweet", pairing feminine vocals with a gritty urban rhythm track. In another interview, she further spoke about her artistry, saying, "I love to fuse other types of music with my own".[new archival link needed] She explored a wide range of genres such as R&B, pop, hip hop, funk, soul, and dance-pop. Time music critic Christopher John Farley described her music as alternative R&B, progressive soul, and neo soul.
Aaliyah released "musically risky singles into a notoriously fickle pop market", without being "concerned about conforming to the stereotypes of the marketplace". Her songs "gracefully walk a line between commerciality and experimentation". Her records tended to have a "crisp production" and "staccato arrangements" that "extend genre boundaries" while containing "old-school" soul music. Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times called her "a digital diva who wove a spell with ones and zeroes", and writes that her songs comprised "simple vocal riffs, repeated and refracted to echo the manipulated loops that create digital rhythm", as Timbaland's "computer-programmed beats fitted perfectly with her cool, breathy voice to create a new kind of electronic music."
In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Keith Harris said of Aaliyah's lyrical content that "when it came to sexual availability, she was between En Vogue maliciously taunting 'You're never gonna get it' and Tweet blankly cooing 'Oops, there goes my shirt.'" Lyrically, "her first two albums carefully toed the line between adolescence and adulthood, displaying a woman exploring the terrain of love, trust, and lust; one who exuded a playful innocence while hinting at a more sultry side." She did not usually write her own lyrics. The only time she had a hand in writing was on the song "Death of a Playa" from the 1997 single "Hot Like Fire". She co-wrote that song, which "reflects Aaliyah's dark perspective on romance", with her brother Rashad Haughton. She said of her role in crafting her music that "I like to have the final say but I was trained as a singer, actress and dancer, the interpreter, bringing other people's words to life. I need the songs to reflect me in one way or another".
As Aaliyah's albums progressed, writers felt that she matured, calling her progress a "near-flawless declaration of strength and independence". ABC News noted that her music was "evolving from the punchy pop-influenced hip hop and R&B to a more mature, introspective sound" on her third album. NME called her third album "radical" and said that it was "intended to consolidate her position as [US] R&B's most experimental artist". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described her album Aaliyah as "a statement of maturity and a stunning artistic leap forward", and called it one of the strongest urban soul records of its time. It was described as portraying "unfamiliar sounds, styles and emotions", but managed to please critics with the contemporary sound it contained. Ernest Hardy of Rolling Stone felt that she was displaying stronger technique and giving her best vocal performances on the album.
As an artist, Aaliyah said that she was inspired by a number of performers. These included Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Sade, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Korn, Donnie Hathaway, Johnny Mathis, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Barbra Streisand. She said that Michael Jackson's Thriller was her "favorite album" and that "nothing will ever top Thriller." She said that she had always wanted to work with Janet Jackson, to whom she had often been compared, saying, "I admire her a great deal. She's a total performer ... I'd love to do a duet with Janet Jackson." Jackson reciprocated Aaliyah's affection, saying that "I've loved her from the beginning because she always comes out and does something different, musically." Jackson said that she would have enjoyed collaborating with Aaliyah.
Immediately after Aaliyah's death, there was uncertainty over whether the music video for "Rock the Boat" would ever air. It made its world premiere on BET's Access Granted on October 9, 2001. She won two posthumous awards at the American Music Awards of 2002; Favorite Female R&B Artist and Favorite R&B/Soul Album for Aaliyah. Her second and final film, Queen of the Damned, was released in February 2002. Before its release, Aaliyah's brother Rashad re-dubbed some of her lines during post-production. It grossed US$15.2 million in its first weekend, ranking number one at the box office. On the first anniversary of her death, a candlelight vigil was held in Times Square, millions of fans observed a moment of silence, and radio stations throughout the United States played her music in remembrance. In December 2002, a collection of both previously unreleased and released material was issued as her first posthumous album, I Care 4 U. A portion of the proceeds was donated to the Aaliyah Memorial Fund, a program that benefits the Revlon UCLA Women's Cancer Research Program and Harlem's Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. It debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, selling 280,000 copies in its first week. The album's lead single, "Miss You", peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for three weeks. In August of the following year, luxury fashion house Dior donated profits from sales in her honor.
In April 2005, Aaliyah's second posthumous album, a double CD+DVD box set titled Ultimate Aaliyah, was released in the United Kingdom by Blackground Records. A documentary movie Aaliyah Live in Amsterdam was released in 2011, shortly before the tenth anniversary of her death. The documentary by Pogus Caesar contained previously unseen footage shot of her career beginnings in 1995, when she was appearing in the Netherlands.
In March 2012, music producer Jeffrey "J-Dub" Walker stated that the song "Steady Ground", which he produced for Aaliyah's third album, would be included in a posthumous Aaliyah album. Rashad denied Walker's claim. On August 5, 2012, Blackground Records released the track "Enough Said", which featured vocals by Aaliyah and Canadian rapper Drake and was produced by Noah "40" Shebib. Four days later, Aaliyah's cousin Jomo Hankerson claimed a posthumous album was being produced that would feature new production by Timbaland and Missy Elliott, who both later denied involvement with the project. The album was scheduled to be released by the end of 2012 by Blackground Records, but its release was shelved. In June 2013, Aaliyah's vocals were featured on the track "Don't Think They Know" by Chris Brown, which appears on Brown's sixth studio album, X. Timbaland voiced his disapproval of "Enough Said" and "Don't Think They Know" in July 2013, but later apologized to Chris Brown, explaining that Aaliyah and her death were a "very sensitive subject" for him.
In May 2015, Aaliyah was featured on the Tink track "Million", which contained samples from her song "One in a Million". In September 2015, Aaliyah by Xyrena, an official tribute fragrance, was announced. On December 25, 2015, Timbaland released the mixtape Kings Stay Kings, which includes the unreleased Aaliyah song "Shakin" featuring rapper Strado. In June 2018, MAC Cosmetics released the Aaliyah for Mac collection, which was priced at $250 and sold out within minutes. MAC and i-D Magazine partnered up to release a short film titled "A-Z of Aaliyah" that coincided with the launch. On August 21, 2019, the Las Vegas Madame Tussauds museum location unveiled a wax figure of Aaliyah, modeled on her appearance in the "Try Again" music video. Four days later, her family announced that they were in talks with record companies to discuss the future of her discography.
In March 2021, Funko Pop! released an Aaliyah figurine. In August 2021, Blackground Records announced that her recorded works would be re-released on physical, digital, and streaming services in a deal between the label and Empire Distribution. Her estate issued a statement in response to the announcement, denouncing the "unscrupulous endeavor to release Aaliyah's music without any transparency or full accounting to the estate". One in a Million was reissued on August 20. After the album's re-release, One in a Million re-entered the UK Official Hip Hop and R&B Albums Chart Top 40 at number eight. In the US, the album reached the top ten on the Billboard 200 for the first time at number ten, selling 26,000 album-equivalent units in the week ending of August 26. Aaliyah was reissued on September 10. After the album's re-release, Aaliyah re-entered the UK Official Hip Hop and R&B Albums Chart Top 40 at number seven and re-entered the US Billboard 200 chart at number 13. In celebration of the reissue, Blackground released an animated commercial titled "It's Been A Long Time" (in a similar style to the album's original 2001 commercial), directed by Takahiro Tanaka, showing Aaliyah resurrecting her music from out of a large underground vault. The compilation albums I Care 4 U and Ultimate Aaliyah were reissued October 8, 2021. Ultimate Aaliyah peaked at number 8 on the UK R&B Albums Chart Top 40 and charted for the first time in the US at number 41 on the Billboard 200.
On August 25, 2021, Barry Hankerson revealed in an interview with Big Tigger for WVEE that a posthumous album titled Unstoppable would be released in "a matter of weeks". The album was said to feature Drake, Snoop Dogg, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, and Future, and use previously unreleased vocals from before her death. On December 17, 2021, Background Records released the posthumous Aaliyah single "Poison" featuring The Weeknd. On January 4, 2022, Hankerson claimed that Unstoppable would be released later that month; however, it did not see a release and there was no related announcement from the label. In January 2024, Blackground Records hinted in an Instagram post that the release was "coming".
On January 16, 2025, Mattel released an Aaliyah Barbie doll modeled on her appearance in the "One in a Million" music video. On May 2, 2025, Blackground Records 2.0 released the single "Gone" by Aaliyah, with former collaborator Tank. The single was released exclusively to the record label's streaming app, BLKStream, but saw a wider release to streaming and digital download sites on August 1, 2025. "Gone" peaked at number one on the Adult R&B Airplay Chart, becoming Aaliyah's first number one on that chart; "Gone" also peaked at number 13 on the R&B/Hip Hop Airplay chart. A 2D music video was released on August 1, 2025, along with the announcement of a "3D holographic experience" provided by the Meta Quest app Soapbox.
Aaliyah has been credited for helping to redefine R&B, pop, and hip hop in the 1990s, "leaving an indelible imprint on the music industry as a whole." According to Billboard, she revolutionized R&B with her sultry mix of pop, soul and hip hop. Peter Piatkowski from PopMatters stated that "much like Janet Jackson's Control set a template of sorts for dance-pop divas in the 1980s, Aaliyah's patented brand of Black pop, which was a mélange of hip-hop, electropop, and soul, set a standard against which other young urban-pop singers were judged". In a 2001 review of her third album, Ernest Hardy from Rolling Stone claimed that her impact on R&B and pop had been "enormous." Steve Huey of AllMusic wrote that she ranks among the "elite" artists of the R&B genre, as she "played a major role in popularizing the stuttering, futuristic production style that consumed hip-hop and urban soul in the late 1990s." Critic Bruce Britt stated that by combining "schoolgirl charm with urban grit, Aaliyah helped define the teen-oriented sound that has resulted in contemporary pop phenom's like Brandy, Christina Aguilera and Destiny's Child".
Described as one of "R&B's most important artists" during the 1990s, Aaliyah's second studio album, One in a Million, became one of the most influential R&B albums of the decade. Music critic Simon Reynolds cited "Are You That Somebody?" as "the most radical pop single" of 1998. Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times wrote that rather than being the song's focal point, Aaliyah "knew how to disappear into the music, how to match her voice to the bass line", and consequently "helped change the way popular music sounds; the twitchy, beat-driven songs of Destiny's Child owe a clear debt to 'Are You That Somebody'." Sanneh asserted that by the time of her death in 2001, Aaliyah "had recorded some of the most innovative and influential pop songs of the last five years." Music publication Popdust called her an unlikely queen of the underground for her influence on the underground alternative music scene. The publication also mentioned that the forward-thinking music she made with Timbaland and the experimental music later made by many underground alternative artists were "somewhat cut from the same cloth". While compiling a list of artists that take cues from her, MTV Hive stated that its easy to spot her influence on underground movements like dubstep, strains of indie pop, and lo-fi R&B movements. Erika Ramirez, an associate editor of Billboard, said at the time of Aaliyah's career "there weren't many artists using the kind of soft vocals the ways she was using it, and now you see a lot of artists doing that and finding success". Ramirez argued that her second album One in a Million was "very much ahead of its time, with the bass and electro kind of R&B sounds that they produced", and that the sound, which "really stood out" at the time, was being replicated.
There is a common belief that Aaliyah would have achieved greater career success had it not been for her death. Emil Wilbekin mentioned the deaths of The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur in conjunction with hers and added: "Her just-released third album and scheduled role in a sequel to The Matrix could have made her another Janet Jackson or Whitney Houston". Director of Queen of the Damned Michael Rymer said of Aaliyah, "god, that girl could have gone so far" and spoke of her having "such a clarity about what she wanted. Nothing was gonna step in her way. No ego, no nervousness, no manipulation. There was nothing to stop her."
On July 18, 2014, it was announced that Alexandra Shipp would replace Zendaya for the role of Aaliyah for the Lifetime TV biopic movie Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B, which premiered on November 15, 2014. Zendaya drew criticism because people felt that she was too light-skinned and did not greatly resemble Aaliyah. She voiced her strong respect for Aaliyah before dropping out of the project. She explained her choice to withdraw from the film in videos on Instagram. Aaliyah's family has been vocal in their disapproval of the film. Her cousin Jomo Hankerson stated that the family would prefer a "major studio release along the lines" of What's Love Got to Do with It, a biopic based on the life of Tina Turner. Aaliyah's family consulted a lawyer to stop Lifetime from using "any of the music, or any of the photographs and videos" they own, and Hankerson claimed that the TV network "didn't reach out." On August 9, 2014, it was announced that Chattrisse Dolabaille and Izaak Smith had been cast as Aaliyah's collaborators Missy Elliott and Timbaland. Dolabaille and Smith both received criticism for their appearances in comparison with that of Missy Elliott and Timbaland. Despite negative reviews, the film's premiere drew 3.2 million viewers, becoming the second highest rated television movie of 2014.
On August 17, 2021, Atria Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) published Kathy Iandoli's Baby Girl: Better Known as Aaliyah, a biography that draws on interviews with Aaliyah's friends, mentors and family, and documents how her career influenced a new generation of artists. It was not authorized by the Haughton family. On August 5, 2022, Beyoncé released "The Queens Remix" to her single "Break My Soul", in which she name-drops Aaliyah, along with other cultural icons. On June 14, 2023, Aaliyah was the subject of the documentary Superstar: Aaliyah, which was broadcast on ABC. The documentary included interviews with Damon Dash, Barry Hankerson, Sevyn Streeter, Will.i.am, Justine Skye, and author Kathy Iandoli, and discussed Aaliyah's life, career and legacy.
In July 2026, an Aaliyah tribute was showcased at the finale of that year's Essence Festival of Culture. Curated by Missy Elliott, the tribute included performances of Aaliyah's best known songs, by Mya, Ryan Destiny, Normani, Chloe Bailey, and Sevyn Streeter.
Source: wikipedia
After Hankerson signed a distribution deal with Jive Records, he signed Aaliyah to his Blackground Records label at the age of 12. Hankerson later introduced her to recording artist and producer R. Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her first album, recorded when she was 14. Her debut album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, was released under her mononym "Aaliyah", by Jive and Blackground Records on May 24, 1994; it debuted at number 24 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 38,000 copies in its first week. It peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200 and it was certified two times Platinum by the RIAA. To date, the album has sold over 3 million copies in the US. In Canada, the album was certified gold by Music Canada for 50,000 copies in shipments. In 2014, Vibe magazine estimated that the album had sold six million copies globally.
Upon its release, Age Ain't Nothing But a Number received generally favorable reviews from music critics. Some writers noted that Aaliyah's "silky vocals" and "sultry voice" blended with Kelly's new jack swing helped define R&B in the 1990s. Her sound was also compared to that of female quartet En Vogue. Christopher John Farley of Time magazine called the album a "beautifully restrained work", noting that her "girlish, breathy vocals rode calmly on R. Kelly's rough beats." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic felt that the album had its "share of filler", but described the singles as "slyly seductive." He also wrote that the songs on the album were "frequently better" than that of Kelly's second studio album, 12 Play. Billboard criticized the single "At Your Best (You Are Love)" for being out of place on the album and for its length.
Aaliyah's debut single, "Back & Forth", peaked at number 5 on the Hot 100 and topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for three weeks. Two more singles charted: a cover of the Isley Brothers' "At Your Best (You Are Love)" peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the album's title track, "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number", peaked at number 75. Additionally, she released "The Thing I Like" as part of the soundtrack to the 1994 film A Low Down Dirty Shame. In August 1995, she was featured on the single remix to Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s song "I Need You Tonight."
In February 1996, Aaliyah was featured on the Kris Kross single "Live and Die for Hip Hop", which also featured Jermaine Dupri (the song's producer) and rapper Da Brat. That year, she left Jive Records and signed with Atlantic Records. She worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott, who contributed to her second studio album, One in a Million. Elliott recalled Timbaland and herself being nervous to work with Aaliyah, since the latter had already released her successful debut album while Elliott and Timbaland were just starting out. Elliott also feared that Aaliyah would be a diva, but reflected that she "came in and was so warming; she made us immediately feel like family." The album yielded the lead single "If Your Girl Only Knew", which peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for two weeks. It also generated the singles "Hot Like Fire" and "4 Page Letter". One in a Million peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200, and was certified double platinum by the RIAA on June 16, 1997, denoting shipments of two million copies. The album went on to sell 3 million copies in the US and over eight million copies worldwide. The year after her album was released, she was featured on Timbaland & Magoo's debut single, "Up Jumps da Boogie".
In 1997, Aaliyah graduated with a 4.0 GPA from the Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts, where she majored in drama. The same year, she began her acting career, playing herself in the police drama television series New York Undercover. During this time, she participated in the Children's Benefit Concert, a charity concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York. She also became the spokesperson for the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. During her campaign with Tommy Hilfiger, the company sold over 2,400 pairs of the red, white and blue baggy jeans she wore in their advertisements. In December 1997, she performed the Christmas carol "What Child Is This?" at the annual Christmas in Washington television special. She also contributed to the soundtrack album for the animated film Anastasia, performing a cover version of "Journey to the Past" that earned songwriters Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. She performed the song at the 70th Academy Awards, becoming the youngest singer to perform at the event. Also in 1998, she released the song "Are You That Somebody?", which was featured on the Dr. Dolittle soundtrack. The song peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned her her first Grammy Award nomination.
In 1999, Aaliyah landed her first big-screen acting role in Romeo Must Die. She starred opposite martial artist Jet Li, playing a couple who fall in love amid their warring families. Released on March 24, 2000, the movie grossed US$18.6 million in its first weekend, ranking number two at the box office. She purposely stayed away from reviews of the film to "make it easier on" herself, but heard "that people were able to get into me, which is what I wanted." In contrast, some critics felt there was no chemistry between her and Li, as well as viewing the film as too simplistic. This was echoed by Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times, who wrote that while she was "a natural" and the film was conceived as a spotlight for both her and Li, "they have so little chemistry together you'd think they're putting out a fire instead of shooting off sparks. In addition to acting, she served as an executive producer of the film's soundtrack, for which she contributed four songs. "Try Again" was released as a single from the soundtrack; the song topped the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first artist to top the chart based solely on airplay; this led the song to be released in a 12-inch vinyl and 7-inch single. The music video won the Best Female Video and Best Video from a Film awards at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. It also earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist. The soundtrack went on to sell 1.5 million copies in the United States.
From the very beginning, Aaliyah opted "for an edgier, more mature sound", and her songs were often both uptempo and dark, revolving around "matters of the heart". She "easily straddled the hip-hop and pop worlds, never projecting the frilliness of her ingénue peers". After her R. Kelly-produced debut album, she worked with Timbaland and Missy Elliott, whose productions were more electronic. The duo "mixed choppy, nervous rhythms over loops of computer-generated backing tracks, and incorporating harmonies which – within the genre's limited horizons – seemed daring". They also created the "freeze-and-stop style of singing on top of bass-heavy instrumentals" that became Aaliyah's signature style. In 2001, she called her sound "street but sweet", pairing feminine vocals with a gritty urban rhythm track. In another interview, she further spoke about her artistry, saying, "I love to fuse other types of music with my own".[new archival link needed] She explored a wide range of genres such as R&B, pop, hip hop, funk, soul, and dance-pop. Time music critic Christopher John Farley described her music as alternative R&B, progressive soul, and neo soul.
Aaliyah released "musically risky singles into a notoriously fickle pop market", without being "concerned about conforming to the stereotypes of the marketplace". Her songs "gracefully walk a line between commerciality and experimentation". Her records tended to have a "crisp production" and "staccato arrangements" that "extend genre boundaries" while containing "old-school" soul music. Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times called her "a digital diva who wove a spell with ones and zeroes", and writes that her songs comprised "simple vocal riffs, repeated and refracted to echo the manipulated loops that create digital rhythm", as Timbaland's "computer-programmed beats fitted perfectly with her cool, breathy voice to create a new kind of electronic music."
In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Keith Harris said of Aaliyah's lyrical content that "when it came to sexual availability, she was between En Vogue maliciously taunting 'You're never gonna get it' and Tweet blankly cooing 'Oops, there goes my shirt.'" Lyrically, "her first two albums carefully toed the line between adolescence and adulthood, displaying a woman exploring the terrain of love, trust, and lust; one who exuded a playful innocence while hinting at a more sultry side." She did not usually write her own lyrics. The only time she had a hand in writing was on the song "Death of a Playa" from the 1997 single "Hot Like Fire". She co-wrote that song, which "reflects Aaliyah's dark perspective on romance", with her brother Rashad Haughton. She said of her role in crafting her music that "I like to have the final say but I was trained as a singer, actress and dancer, the interpreter, bringing other people's words to life. I need the songs to reflect me in one way or another".
As Aaliyah's albums progressed, writers felt that she matured, calling her progress a "near-flawless declaration of strength and independence". ABC News noted that her music was "evolving from the punchy pop-influenced hip hop and R&B to a more mature, introspective sound" on her third album. NME called her third album "radical" and said that it was "intended to consolidate her position as [US] R&B's most experimental artist". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described her album Aaliyah as "a statement of maturity and a stunning artistic leap forward", and called it one of the strongest urban soul records of its time. It was described as portraying "unfamiliar sounds, styles and emotions", but managed to please critics with the contemporary sound it contained. Ernest Hardy of Rolling Stone felt that she was displaying stronger technique and giving her best vocal performances on the album.
As an artist, Aaliyah said that she was inspired by a number of performers. These included Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Sade, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Korn, Donnie Hathaway, Johnny Mathis, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Barbra Streisand. She said that Michael Jackson's Thriller was her "favorite album" and that "nothing will ever top Thriller." She said that she had always wanted to work with Janet Jackson, to whom she had often been compared, saying, "I admire her a great deal. She's a total performer ... I'd love to do a duet with Janet Jackson." Jackson reciprocated Aaliyah's affection, saying that "I've loved her from the beginning because she always comes out and does something different, musically." Jackson said that she would have enjoyed collaborating with Aaliyah.
Immediately after Aaliyah's death, there was uncertainty over whether the music video for "Rock the Boat" would ever air. It made its world premiere on BET's Access Granted on October 9, 2001. She won two posthumous awards at the American Music Awards of 2002; Favorite Female R&B Artist and Favorite R&B/Soul Album for Aaliyah. Her second and final film, Queen of the Damned, was released in February 2002. Before its release, Aaliyah's brother Rashad re-dubbed some of her lines during post-production. It grossed US$15.2 million in its first weekend, ranking number one at the box office. On the first anniversary of her death, a candlelight vigil was held in Times Square, millions of fans observed a moment of silence, and radio stations throughout the United States played her music in remembrance. In December 2002, a collection of both previously unreleased and released material was issued as her first posthumous album, I Care 4 U. A portion of the proceeds was donated to the Aaliyah Memorial Fund, a program that benefits the Revlon UCLA Women's Cancer Research Program and Harlem's Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. It debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, selling 280,000 copies in its first week. The album's lead single, "Miss You", peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for three weeks. In August of the following year, luxury fashion house Dior donated profits from sales in her honor.
In April 2005, Aaliyah's second posthumous album, a double CD+DVD box set titled Ultimate Aaliyah, was released in the United Kingdom by Blackground Records. A documentary movie Aaliyah Live in Amsterdam was released in 2011, shortly before the tenth anniversary of her death. The documentary by Pogus Caesar contained previously unseen footage shot of her career beginnings in 1995, when she was appearing in the Netherlands.
In March 2012, music producer Jeffrey "J-Dub" Walker stated that the song "Steady Ground", which he produced for Aaliyah's third album, would be included in a posthumous Aaliyah album. Rashad denied Walker's claim. On August 5, 2012, Blackground Records released the track "Enough Said", which featured vocals by Aaliyah and Canadian rapper Drake and was produced by Noah "40" Shebib. Four days later, Aaliyah's cousin Jomo Hankerson claimed a posthumous album was being produced that would feature new production by Timbaland and Missy Elliott, who both later denied involvement with the project. The album was scheduled to be released by the end of 2012 by Blackground Records, but its release was shelved. In June 2013, Aaliyah's vocals were featured on the track "Don't Think They Know" by Chris Brown, which appears on Brown's sixth studio album, X. Timbaland voiced his disapproval of "Enough Said" and "Don't Think They Know" in July 2013, but later apologized to Chris Brown, explaining that Aaliyah and her death were a "very sensitive subject" for him.
In May 2015, Aaliyah was featured on the Tink track "Million", which contained samples from her song "One in a Million". In September 2015, Aaliyah by Xyrena, an official tribute fragrance, was announced. On December 25, 2015, Timbaland released the mixtape Kings Stay Kings, which includes the unreleased Aaliyah song "Shakin" featuring rapper Strado. In June 2018, MAC Cosmetics released the Aaliyah for Mac collection, which was priced at $250 and sold out within minutes. MAC and i-D Magazine partnered up to release a short film titled "A-Z of Aaliyah" that coincided with the launch. On August 21, 2019, the Las Vegas Madame Tussauds museum location unveiled a wax figure of Aaliyah, modeled on her appearance in the "Try Again" music video. Four days later, her family announced that they were in talks with record companies to discuss the future of her discography.
In March 2021, Funko Pop! released an Aaliyah figurine. In August 2021, Blackground Records announced that her recorded works would be re-released on physical, digital, and streaming services in a deal between the label and Empire Distribution. Her estate issued a statement in response to the announcement, denouncing the "unscrupulous endeavor to release Aaliyah's music without any transparency or full accounting to the estate". One in a Million was reissued on August 20. After the album's re-release, One in a Million re-entered the UK Official Hip Hop and R&B Albums Chart Top 40 at number eight. In the US, the album reached the top ten on the Billboard 200 for the first time at number ten, selling 26,000 album-equivalent units in the week ending of August 26. Aaliyah was reissued on September 10. After the album's re-release, Aaliyah re-entered the UK Official Hip Hop and R&B Albums Chart Top 40 at number seven and re-entered the US Billboard 200 chart at number 13. In celebration of the reissue, Blackground released an animated commercial titled "It's Been A Long Time" (in a similar style to the album's original 2001 commercial), directed by Takahiro Tanaka, showing Aaliyah resurrecting her music from out of a large underground vault. The compilation albums I Care 4 U and Ultimate Aaliyah were reissued October 8, 2021. Ultimate Aaliyah peaked at number 8 on the UK R&B Albums Chart Top 40 and charted for the first time in the US at number 41 on the Billboard 200.
On August 25, 2021, Barry Hankerson revealed in an interview with Big Tigger for WVEE that a posthumous album titled Unstoppable would be released in "a matter of weeks". The album was said to feature Drake, Snoop Dogg, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, and Future, and use previously unreleased vocals from before her death. On December 17, 2021, Background Records released the posthumous Aaliyah single "Poison" featuring The Weeknd. On January 4, 2022, Hankerson claimed that Unstoppable would be released later that month; however, it did not see a release and there was no related announcement from the label. In January 2024, Blackground Records hinted in an Instagram post that the release was "coming".
On January 16, 2025, Mattel released an Aaliyah Barbie doll modeled on her appearance in the "One in a Million" music video. On May 2, 2025, Blackground Records 2.0 released the single "Gone" by Aaliyah, with former collaborator Tank. The single was released exclusively to the record label's streaming app, BLKStream, but saw a wider release to streaming and digital download sites on August 1, 2025. "Gone" peaked at number one on the Adult R&B Airplay Chart, becoming Aaliyah's first number one on that chart; "Gone" also peaked at number 13 on the R&B/Hip Hop Airplay chart. A 2D music video was released on August 1, 2025, along with the announcement of a "3D holographic experience" provided by the Meta Quest app Soapbox.
Aaliyah has been credited for helping to redefine R&B, pop, and hip hop in the 1990s, "leaving an indelible imprint on the music industry as a whole." According to Billboard, she revolutionized R&B with her sultry mix of pop, soul and hip hop. Peter Piatkowski from PopMatters stated that "much like Janet Jackson's Control set a template of sorts for dance-pop divas in the 1980s, Aaliyah's patented brand of Black pop, which was a mélange of hip-hop, electropop, and soul, set a standard against which other young urban-pop singers were judged". In a 2001 review of her third album, Ernest Hardy from Rolling Stone claimed that her impact on R&B and pop had been "enormous." Steve Huey of AllMusic wrote that she ranks among the "elite" artists of the R&B genre, as she "played a major role in popularizing the stuttering, futuristic production style that consumed hip-hop and urban soul in the late 1990s." Critic Bruce Britt stated that by combining "schoolgirl charm with urban grit, Aaliyah helped define the teen-oriented sound that has resulted in contemporary pop phenom's like Brandy, Christina Aguilera and Destiny's Child".
Described as one of "R&B's most important artists" during the 1990s, Aaliyah's second studio album, One in a Million, became one of the most influential R&B albums of the decade. Music critic Simon Reynolds cited "Are You That Somebody?" as "the most radical pop single" of 1998. Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times wrote that rather than being the song's focal point, Aaliyah "knew how to disappear into the music, how to match her voice to the bass line", and consequently "helped change the way popular music sounds; the twitchy, beat-driven songs of Destiny's Child owe a clear debt to 'Are You That Somebody'." Sanneh asserted that by the time of her death in 2001, Aaliyah "had recorded some of the most innovative and influential pop songs of the last five years." Music publication Popdust called her an unlikely queen of the underground for her influence on the underground alternative music scene. The publication also mentioned that the forward-thinking music she made with Timbaland and the experimental music later made by many underground alternative artists were "somewhat cut from the same cloth". While compiling a list of artists that take cues from her, MTV Hive stated that its easy to spot her influence on underground movements like dubstep, strains of indie pop, and lo-fi R&B movements. Erika Ramirez, an associate editor of Billboard, said at the time of Aaliyah's career "there weren't many artists using the kind of soft vocals the ways she was using it, and now you see a lot of artists doing that and finding success". Ramirez argued that her second album One in a Million was "very much ahead of its time, with the bass and electro kind of R&B sounds that they produced", and that the sound, which "really stood out" at the time, was being replicated.
There is a common belief that Aaliyah would have achieved greater career success had it not been for her death. Emil Wilbekin mentioned the deaths of The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur in conjunction with hers and added: "Her just-released third album and scheduled role in a sequel to The Matrix could have made her another Janet Jackson or Whitney Houston". Director of Queen of the Damned Michael Rymer said of Aaliyah, "god, that girl could have gone so far" and spoke of her having "such a clarity about what she wanted. Nothing was gonna step in her way. No ego, no nervousness, no manipulation. There was nothing to stop her."
On July 18, 2014, it was announced that Alexandra Shipp would replace Zendaya for the role of Aaliyah for the Lifetime TV biopic movie Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B, which premiered on November 15, 2014. Zendaya drew criticism because people felt that she was too light-skinned and did not greatly resemble Aaliyah. She voiced her strong respect for Aaliyah before dropping out of the project. She explained her choice to withdraw from the film in videos on Instagram. Aaliyah's family has been vocal in their disapproval of the film. Her cousin Jomo Hankerson stated that the family would prefer a "major studio release along the lines" of What's Love Got to Do with It, a biopic based on the life of Tina Turner. Aaliyah's family consulted a lawyer to stop Lifetime from using "any of the music, or any of the photographs and videos" they own, and Hankerson claimed that the TV network "didn't reach out." On August 9, 2014, it was announced that Chattrisse Dolabaille and Izaak Smith had been cast as Aaliyah's collaborators Missy Elliott and Timbaland. Dolabaille and Smith both received criticism for their appearances in comparison with that of Missy Elliott and Timbaland. Despite negative reviews, the film's premiere drew 3.2 million viewers, becoming the second highest rated television movie of 2014.
On August 17, 2021, Atria Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) published Kathy Iandoli's Baby Girl: Better Known as Aaliyah, a biography that draws on interviews with Aaliyah's friends, mentors and family, and documents how her career influenced a new generation of artists. It was not authorized by the Haughton family. On August 5, 2022, Beyoncé released "The Queens Remix" to her single "Break My Soul", in which she name-drops Aaliyah, along with other cultural icons. On June 14, 2023, Aaliyah was the subject of the documentary Superstar: Aaliyah, which was broadcast on ABC. The documentary included interviews with Damon Dash, Barry Hankerson, Sevyn Streeter, Will.i.am, Justine Skye, and author Kathy Iandoli, and discussed Aaliyah's life, career and legacy.
In July 2026, an Aaliyah tribute was showcased at the finale of that year's Essence Festival of Culture. Curated by Missy Elliott, the tribute included performances of Aaliyah's best known songs, by Mya, Ryan Destiny, Normani, Chloe Bailey, and Sevyn Streeter.
Source: wikipedia