TLC

Few acts could snarl and sway in the same song quite like TLC. The Atlanta trio that made their name was Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, who came in after Crystal Jones left the original lineup.

Their mix of hip-hop, new jack swing and silky R&B gave them nine top-ten hits in America and four that went to number one: "Creep", "Waterfalls", "No Scrubs" and "Unpretty". CrazySexyCool in 1994 went diamond and FanMail in 1999 kept the run going, and along the way they collected Grammys for Best R&B Album in 1996 and 2000 and MTV's Video of the Year in 1995. The smooth, shimmering "Waterfalls" and the slinky, sly "Creep" were the ones that crossed over far enough that even rock stations played along.

With sales past 60 million records, they stand among the biggest-selling girl groups America has produced. Lopes died in 2002, and rather than replace her, Watkins and Thomas carried on as a duo, releasing their fifth album, simply titled TLC, in 2017.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.