# Unapologetic
**Unapologetic** is the seventh studio album by the Barbadian singer Rihanna, released on November 19, 2012, by [Def Jam Recordings](https://www.edgepedia.org/def-jam-recordings). It became her first number-one album on the US Billboard 200, produced the international hit "Diamonds", and won the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album.[1](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/) • [2](https://www.allmusic.com/album/unapologetic-mw0002439379)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | November 19, 2012, on Def Jam Recordings; seventh studio album in as many years[1](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/) • [3](https://www.universalmusic.ca/2012/10/11/rihanna-announces-7th-studio-album-unapologetic-released-mon-nov-19/) |
| Recording | June to November 2012, during promotion of the previous album, Talk That Talk (2011)[1](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/) |
| US chart result | Debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 238,000 copies, her first number-one album on that chart and her best-selling debut week to that point[1](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/) |
| Lead single | "Diamonds", released September 27, 2012; it topped the Billboard Hot 100 and the charts in eighteen other countries[1](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/) |
| Guest vocalists | Chris Brown, Eminem, Future, and Mikky Ekko[1](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/) |
| Grammy Award | Best Urban Contemporary Album (2013)[2](https://www.allmusic.com/album/unapologetic-mw0002439379) |
| Critical reception | Metascore of 61 on Metacritic, based on 25 reviews; Billboard gave it 86, Pitchfork 45[4](https://www.metacritic.com/music/unapologetic/rihanna/critic-reviews) |
## Background and recording
Rihanna released a studio album every November from 2009 through 2012, and Unapologetic was recorded between June and November 2012 while she was still promoting [Talk That Talk](https://www.edgepedia.org/talk-that-talk) (2011).[1](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/) As executive producer she kept previous collaborators [The-Dream](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-dream), David Guetta, Chase & Status, and StarGate, and brought in new ones including Mike Will Made-It and Labrinth.[1](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/) Sessions took place at Sarm Studios in London and Westlake Studios in West Hollywood, with mixing at Larrabee Studios in North Hollywood.[5](https://musicbrainz.org/release/617d5a8b-337f-482b-a252-333da63626bb)
The schedule was compressed to the end. On November 6, 2012, the [Roc Nation](https://www.edgepedia.org/roc-nation) executive handling the project handed over the final cut, thirteen days before the scheduled release date; a week before it came out, The-Dream said, "We had our songs ready way beforehand, but we never stop recording."[6](https://manuals.plus/m/80c7ad2feef29fbf9eada4848123b6b2f917c75888c5453cfb8f097f88d05ec8.pdf)
**The title.** Rihanna gave a plain reason for it: "That's why the album is called Unapologetic, because it's the truth."[7](https://www.complex.com/music/a/soo-young-kim/rihanna-talks-eminem-future-and-strip-club-records) The context was public criticism of her "bad gal" persona and of her brief reconnection with [Chris Brown](https://www.edgepedia.org/chris-brown), the singer who had assaulted her in 2009 and appears on the album.[8](https://music.apple.com/us/album/unapologetic/1443232426) • [9](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/nov/25/rihanna-unapologetic-review)
## Music and themes
The album's fourteen tracks run 55 minutes and mix pop, EDM, and dubstep, in the vein of Talk That Talk and Rated R (2009).[1](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/) • [8](https://music.apple.com/us/album/unapologetic/1443232426) Apple Music's editorial describes it as an icier, more introspective record than its singles-driven predecessors, a more adult sequel to the personal diary of Rated R.[8](https://music.apple.com/us/album/unapologetic/1443232426)
The lead single "Diamonds", written by Sia Furler with Stargate's Mikkel S. Eriksen and Tor Erik Hermansen and produced by Stargate with [Benny Blanco](https://www.edgepedia.org/benny-blanco), was a deliberate change of pace: a midtempo pop ballad rather than the dance anthems that had opened previous eras.[1](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/) • [2](https://www.allmusic.com/album/unapologetic-mw0002439379) • [8](https://music.apple.com/us/album/unapologetic/1443232426) Sia later said Rihanna stayed so close to the original demo that at first Sia thought she was hearing her own voice on the finished record.[10](https://time.com/4198509/rihanna-anti-review/)
Other prominent songs include the piano-led duet "Stay" with Mikky Ekko, the six-minute, 58-second "Love Without Tragedy / Mother Mary" (whose riff Pitchfork describes as copying the Police's "Message in a Bottle"), the strip-club anthem "Pour It Up" produced by Mike Will Made-It, and "Numb" featuring Eminem.[8](https://music.apple.com/us/album/unapologetic/1443232426) • [11](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17369-unapologetic/) • [6](https://manuals.plus/m/80c7ad2feef29fbf9eada4848123b6b2f917c75888c5453cfb8f097f88d05ec8.pdf) The Chris Brown duet "Nobody's Business" drew the sharpest criticism: Pitchfork framed the whole album around the question "Who is Rihanna without Chris Brown?", and [The A.V. Club](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-a-v-club) called the album a fiery pop record coated in the residue of unearned defiance associated with Brown's output.[11](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17369-unapologetic/) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/music/unapologetic/rihanna/critic-reviews)
## Promotion and singles
Before the album's release, Rihanna promoted it with the 777 Tour, performing seven concerts in seven cities across North America and Europe in seven days, chartering a [Boeing 777](https://www.edgepedia.org/boeing-777) and flying selected journalists along.[1](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/) • [12](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/28/up-the-anti-how-rihanna-rewrote-the-rules-of-pop) The Guardian later described the trip as "more of a hostage situation than a press trip", noting that the punishing schedule and disorienting flights did little to endear Rihanna to the invited media.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/28/up-the-anti-how-rihanna-rewrote-the-rules-of-pop)
Three singles carried the album's first year. "Diamonds" led on September 27, 2012; "Stay" (featuring Mikky Ekko) followed as the second worldwide single on January 7, 2013, and "Pour It Up" was sent to US urban radio on January 8.[1](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/) The Def Jam store credits the album with seven singles in total.[13](https://defjamshop.com/collections/essential-albums/products/rihanna-unapologetic-2lp) The Diamonds World Tour, which began in March 2013, continued the album's promotion.[1](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/)
## Commercial performance
Unapologetic debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 238,000 copies, Rihanna's first number-one album on that chart and her best-selling debut week at the time.[1](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/) It also became her third, fourth, and fifth consecutive number-one album in the United Kingdom, Norway, and Switzerland, respectively.[1](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/) On the UK Official Albums Chart it peaked at number one on December 1, 2012, and spent 36 weeks on the chart, including 14 weeks in the top 10.[14](https://www.officialcharts.com/albums/rihanna-unapologetic/) Four years later, Anti (2016) became her second US number-one album, with Unapologetic still the previous one.[15](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2016/Billboard-2016-04-02-Double.pdf)
## Critical reception
Reviews were divided. On Metacritic the album scored 61, based on 25 critic reviews: 8 positive, 16 mixed, and 1 negative.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/music/unapologetic/rihanna/critic-reviews) Billboard called it Rihanna's most confident, emotionally resonant work since [Rated R](https://www.edgepedia.org/rated-r-rihanna-album) (86), [Entertainment Weekly](https://www.edgepedia.org/entertainment-weekly) found it far less defiant than its title suggests (83), and The New York Times noted that most songs are built tough and layered (70).[4](https://www.metacritic.com/music/unapologetic/rihanna/critic-reviews) At the other end, Pitchfork's review by Jessica Hopper scored it 45 and called the track-by-track music "dull labor, not worth our time and not befitting Rihanna's talent".[11](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17369-unapologetic/) AllMusic's Andy Kellman, scoring it 70, called it another timely refresh of contemporary pop that was a little more exploratory and a whole lot deeper than her past albums.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/album/unapologetic-mw0002439379)
The album won the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album in 2013, credited to Rihanna with vocal producers Kuk Harrell and Marcos Tovar.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/album/unapologetic-mw0002439379)
## Place in Rihanna's catalog
Unapologetic closed out the run of seven studio albums in seven years (2005 to 2012) that made Rihanna a pop phenomenon, and it was her last album before the three-year gap that ended with Anti in 2016.[10](https://time.com/4198509/rihanna-anti-review/) • [12](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/28/up-the-anti-how-rihanna-rewrote-the-rules-of-pop) By the end of that prolific stretch, fans and advisers were suggesting she slow down, and after the Unapologetic promotion she stepped off what The Guardian called the pop treadmill.[10](https://time.com/4198509/rihanna-anti-review/) • [12](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/28/up-the-anti-how-rihanna-rewrote-the-rules-of-pop) Apple Music's retrospective notes that, coming off the singles-based [Loud](https://www.edgepedia.org/loud-rihanna-album) and Talk That Talk, Unapologetic returned to greater sonic and lyrical cohesion, anchored by vulnerability rather than club anthems.[8](https://music.apple.com/us/album/unapologetic/1443232426)
## References
1. [Unapologetic – Rihanna Online (rihanna-fenty.com)](https://rihanna-fenty.com/career/music/discography/unapologetic/)
2. [Unapologetic Review by Andy Kellman, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/album/unapologetic-mw0002439379)
3. [Rihanna Announces 7th Studio Album Unapologetic, Universal Music Canada (October 11, 2012)](https://www.universalmusic.ca/2012/10/11/rihanna-announces-7th-studio-album-unapologetic-released-mon-nov-19/)
4. [Critic Reviews for Unapologetic, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/music/unapologetic/rihanna/critic-reviews)
5. [Release "Unapologetic" by Rihanna, MusicBrainz](https://musicbrainz.org/release/617d5a8b-337f-482b-a252-333da63626bb)
6. [Billboard feature on the making of Unapologetic (via manuals.plus transcription)](https://manuals.plus/m/80c7ad2feef29fbf9eada4848123b6b2f917c75888c5453cfb8f097f88d05ec8.pdf)
7. [Rihanna Talks Eminem, Future, and Strip Club Records, Complex](https://www.complex.com/music/a/soo-young-kim/rihanna-talks-eminem-future-and-strip-club-records)
8. [Unapologetic – Album editorial, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/unapologetic/1443232426)
9. [Rihanna: Unapologetic – review, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/nov/25/rihanna-unapologetic-review)
10. [Review: Rihanna's Anti Rewrites the Rules of Her Career, Time](https://time.com/4198509/rihanna-anti-review/)
11. [Rihanna: Unapologetic Album Review (Jessica Hopper), Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17369-unapologetic/)
12. [Up the Anti: how Rihanna rewrote the rules of pop, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/28/up-the-anti-how-rihanna-rewrote-the-rules-of-pop)
13. [Rihanna: Unapologetic 2LP, Def Jam Official Store](https://defjamshop.com/collections/essential-albums/products/rihanna-unapologetic-2lp)
14. [UNAPOLOGETIC – RIHANNA, Official Charts Company](https://www.officialcharts.com/albums/rihanna-unapologetic/)
15. [Billboard 200, Billboard issue of April 2, 2016 (via WorldRadioHistory)](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2016/Billboard-2016-04-02-Double.pdf)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › Studio albums › Pop albums › 2010s albums › Fourth and later albums*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license