"Taylor was robbed by Jay-Z"— Netizens react as Beyoncé officially named the Greatest Popstar of the 21st century
Beyoncé is now the greatest pop star of the 21st century, Billboard announced on December 2, 2024. She is followed by Taylor Swift in the second position and Rihanna in the third.
The remaining spots were taken by other popular faces, including Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and more. Notably, Taylor Swift was revealed as the runner-up in the list around a week ago.
Netizens took to the comments section of a post of Pop Base on X to share their reactions to the Obsessed star's latest achievement.
"Taylor was robbed by Jay Z," one X user wrote.
Many were spotted criticizing Billboard's choice, with people claiming that the Dreamgirls star's husband, Jay-Z, possibly used some other method to add his wife's name to the list.
"How much did her husband pay?", a user wrote on X.
"Jay Z's check was huge here", an X reaction reads.
"They only care about acrobatics but not actual metrics", a reaction mentioned.
Beyoncé's fans also stepped in to support her below the post.
"Queen B for a reason", one of the reactions reads.
"Highly deserved idk", another user reaction mentioned.
"Who's surprised? She's always been number one", a reaction on X stated.
Billboard has previously named Beyoncé as the greatest pop star of the year between 2003 and 2014, as stated by USA Today. She has also had 32 Grammy Awards in her list of accolades and was nominated almost 99 times.
Also known as Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter, her latest big project was Cowboy Carter, which came out with 27 tracks in March this year. As per Billboard, the album recorded the highest number of streams on Spotify in a single day in 2024. It also reached the top spot on the US Billboard 200 in April.
Billboard elaborates on the reasons for choosing Beyoncé as the greatest pop star
Although many have been criticizing Billboard's decision to name the Pacific Blue star as the greatest pop star, the magazine has given its reasons. Andrew Unterberger, who works for the outlet, mentioned why Taylor Swift was not given the same position.
According to Just Jared, Andrew said in his intro that the 43-year-old received the title "based on her full 25 years of influence, evolution and impact."
"Few artists this period can match her in any of the most critical basic categories of pop stardom – commercial success, performance abilities, critical acclaim and accolades, industry influence, iconic cultural moments – absolutely no one can equal her in all of them," Andrew said.
He claimed that although Taylor Swift is leading in the most important categories compared to Beyoncé, it is still insufficient to "match the expansiveness" of the latter's involvement in the music industry.
Although the Cadillac Records star has not announced a new album, she will return to give her voice to Nala in the upcoming film Mufasa: The Lion King, which is arriving on the big screen on December 20, 2024.
