Black Eyed Peas
Black Eyed Peas were formed in Los Angeles in 1992 by rappers will.i.am and apl.de.ap, who met at the all-ages dance venue Club What? while attending different high schools. Together with Taboo, they developed a style that stood in sharp contrast to the gangsta rap dominating the city. Their first two albums, Behind the Front (1998) and Bridging the Gap (2000), earned critical praise for their socially conscious lyrics and use of live musicians – but commercial breakthrough remained elusive. That changed dramatically when vocalist Fergie joined the group.
Their third album, Elephunk (2003), delivered the mainstream breakthrough, driven by the single “Where Is the Love?” featuring Justin Timberlake, which topped charts in 13 countries. With Monkey Business (2005) and hits like “Don’t Phunk with My Heart” and “My Humps,” they were firmly among the biggest acts in the world. The peak came with The E.N.D. in 2009. “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feeling” held the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for 26 consecutive weeks – a record for any duo or group. They won three Grammy Awards and were ranked as the seventh biggest artist on Billboard’s decade-end chart for the 2000s.
In 2011, they performed the Super Bowl XLV halftime show before going on indefinite hiatus. Fergie officially left the group in 2018, and the trio returned that same year with Masters of the Sun Vol. 1 – an album that marked a return to their more hip-hop-oriented roots. Vocalist J. Rey Soul joined as a new member, and albums Translation (2020) and Elevation (2022) followed.
In 2025, they launched their Las Vegas residency Black Eyed Peas: 3008, and they continue to tour internationally. With an estimated 80 million records sold, Black Eyed Peas are one of the best-selling musical acts of all time. Musically, they have always been hard to categorize – from alternative hip-hop through danceable electropop to Latin pop and back again. Live, they are known for explosive energy, spectacular stage shows, and an ability to get any audience dancing.
It’s party music with substance, delivered by a group that has never stopped evolving.
The Groove is music.nw’s own measure of renown — not an opinion, a fact computed from the record. It weighs reach (how many people engaged) against acclaim (how highly they rated it), balanced so a handful of votes can’t outshout a lasting favourite.
Computed the NeuraWeb way, across the whole record. The same yardstick for everyone — which is why the little-known can out-Groove the famous in their own corner.
How Black Eyed Peas moved
Genre belongs to the record, not to the artist. Every album’s Groove is shared out across the genres it actually is — by how the raters tagged it — so nobody is 100% one thing. Stack that by decade and a career draws itself.
Discography
