Destiny's Child honored as the best-selling female group of all time

On August 31, 2005, the World Music Awards honors the girl group Destiny's Child as the best-selling female group of all time, having sold more than 50 million records globally, including four No. 1 hits and 10 top-10 songs in the Billboard Top 100.

The R&B trio, including vocalists Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, was the star act of the night. They kicked off the awards show, in their signature matching sequins, performing a medley of some of their greatest hits, including "Say My Name" and empowerment anthems "Independent Women, Part 1" and "Survivor." Later in the evening, Beyoncé’s sister Solange Knowles presented the trio with their award for best-selling female group. A 17-minute-long tribute to Destiny's Child included a tear-jerking rendition of "I'll Stand by You" by Patti LaBelle (dedicated, in part, to survivors of Hurricane Katrina, which had hit New Orleans a week earlier), a steamy serenade by Usher and Babyface and a performance by a little-known singer named Rihanna.

The group's rise was not without controversy. Mathew Knowles started it in 1990 with his daughter Beyoncé, then only 9 years old, along with other talented girls from Houston. The group, then a six-member ensemble called Girls Tyme, competed unsuccessfully on TV competition show "Star Search" in 1992. Beyoncé was 12 years old.

The group became Destiny's Child in 1996, with a quartet of members including Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett. They inked a record deal with Columbia Records in 1997, and released their best-selling album The Writing's on the Wall in 1999. However, Roberson and Luckett objected to Mathew Knowles as the group's manager, protesting that he unfairly favored his own daughter. Legal wrangling followed, and Roberson and Luckett eventually left the group. By 2001, when they released the hit album Survivor, Destiny's Child was a trio: Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. They released their final studio album, Destiny Fulfilled, in 2004.

At the time of the 2005 World Music Awards, everyone knew that Destiny's Child was over and done. Destiny's Child announced they were disbanding during a stop on their Destiny Fulfilled tour in Barcelona, Spain, on June 11. Their North American tour, ending in September 2005, would be their farewell tour. They released a statement to their fans explaining their surprising decision to quit at the height of their success: "We have been working together as Destiny's Child since we were nine and touring together since we were fourteen. After a lot of discussion and some deep soul-searching, we realized that our current tour has given us the opportunity to leave Destiny's Child on a high note, united in our friendship and filled with an overwhelming gratitude for our music, our fans and each other."

While the World Music Awards honored Destiny’s Child in 2005 as the best-selling female group of all time, the rankings can vary depending on how one weighs physical album and single sales versus digital downloads and streaming in the overall calculation. By some measures, the Supremes hold the top spot.