Maroon 5 -- and, specifically, its frontman Adam Levine -- became the face of blue-eyed soul in the 21st century, managing to navigate shifting trends in music and fashion to be one of the biggest pop bands of their generation. They took the long way to the top, evolving from the straight-ahead '90s rock band Kara's Flowers into the sleek, soulful Maroon 5 with 2002's Songs About Jane, an album that languished for two years until "This Love" climbed to number five on Billboard's Hot 100 in 2004. From that point forward, the group was a fixture at the top of the charts, their popularity receiving a considerable and enduring boost when Levine was cast as a judge on NBC's televised talent competition The Voice in 2011. That year, their Christina Aguilera duet "Moves Like Jagger" gave Maroon 5 their second number one -- "Makes Me Wonder" went to the top in 2007 -- and kicked off a string of Top Ten hits highlighted by the number ones "One More Night" and "Girls Like You," a run that helped secure the band a headlining Super Bowl gig in 2019. "Girls Like You" featured an appearance by Cardi B, a sign of how Maroon 5 kept current by embracing modern R&B and hip-hop. The band followed this blueprint by enlisting Megan Thee Stallion for "Beautiful Mistakes," a lead single from 2021's Jordi, as well as the 2021 Bantu remix of "One Light" and the 2023 single "Middle Ground."

Prior to Maroon 5, bandmates Adam Levine (vocals/guitar), Jesse Carmichael (keyboards), Mickey Madden (bass), and Ryan Dusick (drums) had spent the latter half of the '90s playing in Kara's Flowers, even releasing a debut album for Reprise Records while still attending high school. The record tanked, however, and Kara's Flowers found themselves dropped from Reprise's roster. After briefly attending college, the bandmates regrouped as Maroon 5, adding former Square guitarist James Valentine to the lineup and embracing a more R&B-influenced sound. Several years later, the quintet had officially risen to the forefront of pop music with Songs About Jane and It Won't Be Soon Before Long, both of which went multi-platinum.

Songs About Jane propelled the band into the mainstream, but the album was not an immediate hit. Octone Records had signed the newly christened Maroon 5 in 2001, and the debut album Jane received a lukewarm response upon its release in June 2002. "Harder to Breathe" became a radio staple 17 months later and was soon followed by the omnipresent "This Love," whose steamy video (featuring frontman Levine and a barely clothed girlfriend) wooed the TV-watching crowds at MTV. Songs About Jane finally entered the Billboard Top Ten in August 2004, more than two years after the album's release, and follow-up singles like "She Will Be Loved" and "Sunday Morning" helped the album move over 2.7 million copies by year's end.

Maroon 5 toured exhaustively in support of Jane's slow-burning success, issuing two stopgap recordings -- 2004's 1.22.03.Acoustic and 2005's Live Friday the 13th -- while traveling the world alongside the likes of the Rolling Stones and John Mayer. Their schedule was especially trying on percussionist Dusick, who sustained wrist and shoulder injuries and was often unable to play. By fall 2006, Dusick had been officially replaced by Matt Flynn (the former drummer for Gavin DeGraw), and the revised band released its sophomore effort in May 2007. It Won't Be Soon Before Long proved to be less popular than its predecessor (which had sold more than four million copies in the U.S. alone), but it still enjoyed double-platinum certification while spinning off the chart-topping single "Makes Me Wonder." Maroon 5 had cemented their status as pop/rock heavyweights, and they now had the connections to prove it. Released in late 2008, Call and Response: The Remix Album reinterpreted the band's catalog with remixes by influential producers like Mary J. Blige, Mark Ronson, and Pharrell Williams.

Between 2008 and 2010, the band worked with a different producer -- veteran rock/country architect Robert John "Mutt" Lange -- on a third studio album, Hands All Over, which was released in September 2010. Although it was kept from the top of the album charts, it went platinum. Also, the following year, it received a big boost when Levine began appearing as a judge on the NBC reality television talent competition The Voice. That same year, Hands All Over was re-released with the single "Moves Like Jagger," featuring Levine's The Voice co-judge Christina Aguilera; the single promptly hit the top of the charts. In 2012, Carmichael revealed that he was taking time off from performing with Maroon 5 and would be replaced by touring keyboardist PJ Morton.

In April 2012, the band teased the release of its fourth studio album with "Payphone," a single featuring Wiz Khalifa that hit number two. The resulting album, Overexposed, also reached number two, featuring production from a bevy of name producers including Ryan Tedder, Max Martin, Benny Blanco, and more. A second single from the album, the reggae-tinged "One More Night," topped the charts not long after its release in June, and stayed at the top long enough to become the band's most successful showing to date. Two further singles also reached the Top Ten, "Daylight" and "Love Somebody."

During 2013, Levine continued to appear on The Voice, and also made appearances in the television drama American Horror Story, as well as the music-based dramatic film Begin Again. The band also hit the studio to record songs for a fifth studio album, aptly titled V, which saw keyboardist Jesse Carmichael return to the fold after a brief hiatus. Released in September 2014, V debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart and produced several Top Ten singles including "Maps," "Animals," and "Sugar." Two more singles followed in 2015 with "This Summer's Gonna Hurt Like a Motherf*****" and "Feelings." Also in 2015, Maroon 5 released their first hits collection, The Singles.

The single "Don't Wanna Know," featuring rapper Kendrick Lamar, appeared in 2016 and peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was later revealed to be the first single from their forthcoming sixth LP. A second collaborative single, "Cold," featuring Future, was released in early 2017, with "What Lovers Do" appearing before the November release of Red Pill Blues. A reference to the choice of taking either red or blue pills first presented in the 1999 sci-fi film The Matrix, Red Pill Blues also featured guest appearances by Julia Michaels, SZA, ASAP Rocky, and LunchMoney Lewis. It peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. In 2018, the band issued a remix of the album track "Girls You Like," featuring an appearance by Cardi B, which wound up being their first single to reach number one on the Billboard charts since 2012's "One More Night."

On February 3, 2019, Maroon 5 headlined the Super Bowl LIII halftime show in Atlanta, Georgia, supported by rappers Big Boi and Travis Scott. That September, they released "Memories" as the lead-single off their seventh studio-album, Jordi. Both the song and the album title were dedicated to the band's late manager, Jordan Feldstein who died in December 2017 from pulmonary embolism. In 2020, bassist Mickey Madden announced he was retiring from the group following an arrest for domestic violence allegations. The band carried on with the topical single "Nobody's Love," which was partly inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic and racial protests following the murder of George Floyd. They also teamed up with Megan Thee Stallion for the 2021 single "Beautiful Mistakes." All of this led up to the release of Jordi, which arrived in June 2021, peaking at number 8 on the Billboard 200. A fourth single, "Lost," appeared soon after, charting at 27 on the Pop 100. More tracks followed, including a 2022 remix of "One Light" by Bantu, featuring Yung Bleu and Latto, and 2023's "Middle Ground," the latter of which found the band working with producers Andrew Watt, Jon Bellion, and Pete Nappi. ~ Andrew Leahey

Rapper and entertainer Cardi B draws from a seemingly never-ending supply of confidence, charisma, and evisceratingly sharp flows. She broke through in 2017 with her debut commercially released single, "Bodak Yellow," topping the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming the first female rapper to do so in nearly two decades. Her 2018 debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy, followed shortly thereafter, reaching number one and breaking additional records with the summer smash "I Like It." The record also made her the first solo female rapper to win a Grammy for Best Rap Album. Heading into the next decade, Cardi continued to dominate with chart-topping singles like 2020's "WAP" with Megan Thee Stallion and 2021's "Up." She again teamed with Megan Thee Stallion for 2023's "Bongos" before joining Shakira for 2024's "Puntería" and teasing her sophomore album with "Enough (Miami)."

Spitting raw and aggressive rhymes in the tradition of Lil' Kim, Nicki Minaj, and Foxy Brown, the former stripper and social media star born Belcalis Almanzar made her television debut in late 2015 on VH1's Love & Hip Hop: New York, joining a cast that also included fellow New York rapper Remy Ma. A year later, she made her musical debut alongside dancehall singer Popcaan on Shaggy's "Boom Boom" single. The solo single "Cheap Ass Weave" and the mixtape Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1 soon followed in early 2016. Two more singles, "Foreva" and "Wash Poppin'," arrived that summer. A second mixtape, Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 2, was released in early 2017.

That same year, Cardi B signed with Atlantic Records and scored a hit with the single "Bodak Yellow," which climbed to the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 in late September; it made her the first solo female rapper to do so since 1998. Her chart run continued with features on G-Eazy's "No Limit" and Migos' "MotorSport," two additional Top Ten hits that crowned Cardi as the first female rapper to have her first three entries land in the Top Ten of the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. After the release of her single "Bartier Cardi" with 21 Savage, Cardi hopped onto a remix of Bruno Mars' "Finesse." The new jack swing revival track soared to number three in the U.S. and topped charts across the globe. With these singles, Cardi became the first woman in history to have five simultaneous Top Ten singles on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Her official debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy, arrived in spring 2018. Including her two breakthrough singles, the effort also featured appearances by Migos ("Drip"), Chance the Rapper ("Best Life"), Kehlani ("Ring"), SZA ("I Do"), YG ("She Bad"), and Bad Bunny and J. Balvin on "I Like It." The latter track was issued as a single and made a steady climb to the top of the Hot 100 in July 2018, making Cardi the first female rapper to achieve two number ones. That summer, she was also featured on hit singles with Jennifer Lopez ("Dinero") and Maroon 5 ("Girls Like You"). To cap her banner year, she was nominated for multiple Grammy Awards and Invasion of Privacy was included on numerous year-end critics' lists. The album went on to win a Grammy for Best Rap Album, making Cardi the first solo female rapper to achieve the honor. The next year, she was nominated again in the category of Best Rap Performance for her Offset collaboration "Clout."

In August 2020, she topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with the song "WAP," a collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion. Six months later, Cardi landed another smash hit with 2021's "Up," a drill-inspired solo single that earned global success and topped four different Billboard charts. That same year, she contributed to hits by Normani ("Wild Side") and Lizzo ("Rumors") before returning in 2022 with the Kanye West and Lil Durk collaboration "Hot Shit." "Bongos," a second collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion, arrived in September 2023 as the fourth single off Cardi's sophomore album. It landed at number 13 on the Hot 100. That same month, the duo performed the song at the MTV Music Video Awards ceremony. A fifth single, the DJ SwanQo, OG Parker, and Romano-produced "Enough (Miami)," appeared in March 2024. That same month, Cardi joined Shakira for the single "Puntería," off the "Hips Don't Lie" singer's 12th album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran. ~ Neil Z. Yeung