When I think of gay artists who have charted on Billboard, one thought springs to the fore: “I wish there were 50,000 more.” Pop music has always been a religion for LGBTQ listeners and it seems only right that we populate, oh, at least 75 percent of every chart. (I’m not great at math but it feels right.) While that remains to be seen, the queer artists who’ve made a dent in Billboard’s vast history stand out as defiant troubadours who often risked being misunderstood or maligned in the service of delivering something relevant to even the most disenfranchised listeners. Here are a few who ruled hard and loud.