The Go-Go's became the first all-female band to top the Billboard 200 with their 1981 album Beauty and the Beat. The achievement marked a major breakthrough for women performing their own energetic blend of new wave, punk, and pop-rock.
Beauty and the Beat spent six weeks at number one and produced the hit singles “We Got the Beat” and “Our Lips Are Sealed.” Unlike many earlier female vocal groups, the Go-Go's played their own instruments and wrote or co-wrote much of their material.
The group formed in Los Angeles in 1978 and initially emerged from the city's punk scene. Their chart success helped open commercial doors for later all-female rock bands, including the Bangles.
A common mix-up is confusing the Go-Go's with the Runaways, an earlier all-female rock band that never topped the Billboard 200. The Go-Go's entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.