Loud

Loud is the fifth studio album by Barbadian singer Rihanna, released in

November 2010 by Def Jam Recordings. It was recorded between February

and August 2010, during the singer's Last Girl on Earth Tour and the filming of

her first feature film Battleship. Rihanna was the executive producer of the

album and worked with many record producers, including StarGate, Sandy Vee,

The Runners, Tricky Stewart and Alex da Kid. The album featured several guest

vocalists, including rappers Drake, Nicki Minaj and Eminem, who is featured on

the sequel to "Love the Way You Lie", titled "Love the Way You Lie (Part II)".

The album differed from Rihanna's 2009 album, Rated R, which incorporated a

prominently foreboding and angry tone with dark themes and contained elements of hip hop, rock, and dubstep music genres. Loud featured up-tempo and pop genres, ranging from dance-pop to electro-R&B, and marked the return to her dancehall roots, which was prominent on Rihanna's first two albums Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl like Me (2006). The album also incorporated rock in "California King Bed" and reggae in the Caribbean inspired "Man Down".

Loud received generally positive reviews from music critics, who complimented its upbeat material and Rihanna's vocal performances, while others stated that although the songs were solid, they were unfocused to each other. The album was a commercial success internationally; it debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first week sales of 207,000 copies, the highest first week sales of her career at the time. The album entered the Canadian, Swiss and UK album charts at number one. As of 2011, the album had sold over 5.7 million copies worldwide. The album produced seven singles, including the international hits "Only Girl (In the World)", "What's My Name?", and "S&M". All three singles reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. "S&M" was Rihanna's tenth number one song in the US, making Rihanna the youngest recording artist to accumulate the plateau in the shortest time, surpassing Mariah Carey. "Only Girl (In the World)" won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in February 2011; additionally, the album was nominated for three more Grammy Awards, including for Album of the Year. To support the album, Rihanna embarked on her third worldwide concert tour, entitled the Loud Tour.