I haven't listened to her first album, and I didn't think her second was anything worth writing home about. Good Girl Gone Bad was definitely an improvement, but I always thought (and still think) it was overrated. "Umbrella", "Disturbia" and "Rehab" are some of my favorite Rihanna songs, while "Shut Up and Drive" and "Hate That I Love You" rank as some of my least favorites. "Breakin' Dishes" is annoying to me; I never got what everyone else liked about it. I was more into "Lemme Get That".
Rated R is definitely her best album. Not only cohesive, but the material itself is much stronger than anything she had put out before. "Cold Case Love" is the album's highlight for me. Loud was cute at the time, but I can't bring myself to listen to much of it today. "Only Girl (In the World)" is the only song I find myself going back to, which I initially couldn't stand. Talk That Talk was serviceable, much like its predecessor. I definitely prefer it to Loud, probably because it's still fresh to me. Only time will tell how I really feel about it.