Beyoncé Giselle Knowles

In December 2008, Knowles starred in the musical biographical film Cadillac Records as blues singer Etta James. She performed James' classic hit "At Last" at The Neighborhood Inaugural Ball of Obama and his wife Michelle's first dance as President and First Lady of the United States on January 20, 2009. "Diva" was released as the third US single from I Am... Sasha Fierce, while "Halo" served as the third international single, and later as the fourth US single. The song peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, and became Knowles' twelfth Hot 100 top-ten single as a solo artist. With this feat, Knowles achieved more top tens on the Hot 100 than any other female artist of the 2000s decade. "Ego" was released as the fifth US single from I Am... Sasha Fierce, and subsequently came up with a remix featuring additional vocals from Kanye West. The song peaked at number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Broken-Hearted Girl" and "Sweet Dreams" became the album's sixth and seventh singles, respectively. In January 2009, Forbes magazine ranked Knowles and Jay-Z as Hollywood's top-earning couple, with a combined total of $162 million. They also made it to the top of the list the following year, with a combined total of $122 million between June 2008 and June 2009. To promote I Am... Sasha Fierce, Knowles embarked on her worldwide I Am... Tour in March 2009. According to Pollstar, the tour earned Knowles $103.2 million for its 97 shows. In April 2009, Knowles starred opposite Ali Larter and Idris Elba in the thriller film, Obsessed. The film grossed $11.1 million on its first day of release, and ended its opening weekend at number one with a total of $28.5 million.
In June 2009, Forbes listed Knowles fourth on its list of the "100 Most Powerful and Influential Celebrities in the World", third on its list of the "Top-Grossing Musicians", and first on the list of "Top Best-Paid Celebs Under 30" with over $87 million in earnings between 2008 and 2009. "Video Phone" was released as the eighth and final single from I Am... Sasha Fierce, with a music video and digital download release taking form of an extended remix, featuring Lady Gaga. Its music video received two nominations at the 2010 BET Awards for Video of the Year and Best Collaboration, winning the former category on June 27, 2010. It also received five nominations at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, in the categories of Best Choreography, Best Collaboration, Best Pop Video, Best Female Video and Best Art Direction. At the 52nd Grammy Awards, Knowles received ten nominations, including Album of the Year for I Am... Sasha Fierce, Record of the Year for "Halo", and Song of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", among others. She tied with Lauryn Hill for most Grammy nominations in a single year by a female artist. Knowles ultimately set the record for the most Grammy awards won on a single night by a female artist, when she won six awards from her ten nominations; Song of the Year, Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Single Ladies", Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Halo", Best Contemporary R&B Album and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for "At Last".
• 2010–present: New management, 4 and motherhood
In January 2010, Knowles was interviewed by USA Today and announced plans to take a break from music in 2010. She stated: "It's definitely time to take a break, to recharge my batteries. ... I'd like to take about six months and not go into the studio. I need to just live life, to be inspired by things again." During this time, a 60 Minutes segment aired, that revealed Knowles was homeschooled as a child and prays before every live performance. In February 2010, Knowles was featured on Lady Gaga's single "Telephone". The single reached number one on the US Pop Songs chart, thus becoming the sixth number-one on the chart for both Knowles and Lady Gaga. With this, they both tied with Mariah Carey for most number-ones since the Nielsen BDS-based Top 40 airplay chart launched in 1992. "Telephone" received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 53rd Grammy Awards. In June 2010, Forbes placed Knowles at number three on its list of "Top-Earning Musicians" with $87 million in grosses for her 93-date world tour, deals with Nintendo and L'Oréal and her House of Deréon clothing line. This made her the world's best paid female artist for this span of time. In October 2010, Forbes recognized Knowles as the ninth "Most Powerful Woman in the World". She was also ranked at ninth place on Forbes' list of "Hollywood's 20 Highest Earners of 2010", becoming the only artist to break the top ten.