This is a chronological list of sopranos who have performed in operas from classical music of the Western world. The list spans from operatic sopranos active in the first operas of the late 16th century to singers currently performing. Singers who have recorded opera arias or sung them in concert but have never performed in an opera are not included in this list. Singers are sorted by their year of birth. Those singers whose birth year is unknown are sorted by the first year that they are known to have flourished. This list should not include singers who have never performed in a staged opera with the exception of historic non-white singers who were barred from the opera stage in varying parts of the world due to discrimination prior to the mid-20th century. This list is limited to those whose notability is established by reliable sources in other Wikipedia articles. Those without an existing independent wikipedia page will be removed.