Beyoncé

There is no danger of bootyliciousness being trumped by, say, a lesser phenomenon like Fergieliciousness. As 2006 draws to a close, Beyoncé acquits herself as an actress with two Golden Globe nods for Dreamgirls, while simultaneously making her fourth solo trip to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with the ridiculously catchy ''Irreplaceable.'' Attention, discredited detractors: Please exit to the left, to the left.

True, her Oscar-nomination-shoo-in costar Jennifer Hudson owns Dreamgirls, largely due to the showstopper ''And I Am Telling You.'' But it's the gut-wrenching ''Listen,'' performed by Beyoncé as the long-suffering Deena, that may snag the superstar an Academy Award for Best Original Song. ''[Deena] doesn't stand up for herself until an hour and a half into the movie,'' says Beyoncé, who co-wrote the tune. It's then that she ''finally gets to lose control and say what's on her mind.''

The three-month shoot ended in April this year, and was followed by the mere two-week recording of her second solo CD, B'Day, which could've been subtitled Dreamgirls Gone Wild. ''Because I'd been playing this character who was so caged, I had to do something with all that energy I'd been holding inside. So I made probably my most emotional, aggressive record ever. I was able to be things I'm not and, with the 'Ring the Alarm' video, audition for a more dramatic, angry role.'' Still, ''Alarm'' only set the stage for what she calls her ''secret weapon'': ''Irreplaceable.'' ''It's a celebration of a breakup and makes women feel like they're worth more,'' she explains. ''I'd never had so many women say that they'd put on the record [to help them] not pick up the phone and take him back. I'm walking down hallways and see fans yelling 'To the left, to the left!''' Right on. —Chris Willman