Rihanna Says She Has at Least 170 Unreleased Songs

Rihanna has offered her clearest glimpse yet at the scale of her unreleased catalog, saying during a Fenty Beauty livestream that she has the equivalent of at least 17 vaults if each one held 10 products. The playful comparison points to a minimum of 170 unheard songs, though she stopped short of promising that any particular track will appear on her next album.

What the number actually means

The remark instantly revived attention around the long-awaited project fans commonly call R9. It is an eye-catching total, but it should not be confused with a finished track list. Artists routinely record far more material than they release, and Rihanna did not announce an album title, release date, single or final sequence during the livestream.

Her last full-length studio album, Anti, arrived in January 2016. Since then, she has released individual songs and contributed music to film projects, including “Friend of Mine” for the 2025 Smurfs movie, while continuing to build businesses in beauty and fashion. The decade-long gap has made almost every music update a major event for her audience.

Why expectations remain high

A$AP Rocky added momentum in August when he said Rihanna was back in the studio. That confirmation suggested active work, but it also came without a timetable. Rihanna has previously explained that the next body of work needs to justify the wait and reflect where she is creatively now rather than simply chase an easy radio formula.

That distinction matters. A vault of 170 or more songs gives Rihanna a large pool to revisit, rewrite or leave behind, but quantity alone says little about what listeners will eventually hear. Her comments suggest the creative process has remained active even while the public release schedule has been quiet.

For now, the strongest confirmed development is not that an album is imminent, but that Rihanna has accumulated a substantial archive of unreleased music and is again working in the studio. Until she names a project or sets a date, the next chapter remains deliberately open—and that uncertainty is likely to keep every new hint under close watch.