“You actin’ kinda shady/ Ain’t callin’ me baby/ Better say my name.”
In the year 2000, Beyoncé Knowles topped the Billboard Hot 100 charts for the first time since her solo debut. Although she had already scored the top spot before as a member of the pop&B quartet Destiny’s Child, their chart-topping song “Say My Name,” demanded the acknowledgment that they deserved.
The phone-call argument-turned-melodrama was packed with anxiety-ridden lyrics that juxtapose the calm demeanor that the singer embodies.
Before the first quarter of the 21st century comes to a close, the Billboard staff spent the last few months counting down their staff picks for the 25 greatest pop stars from the last decade. For the number one spot, Billboard noted that Beyoncé was their top pick based on “influence, evolution, and impact.”
“The greatness of Beyoncé as a pop star is both immediately obvious on its surface and worthy of extensive exploration in its vastness,” Billboard wrote.
“You can watch her on stage for half a minute and instantly recognize that she’s an all-timer; her inherent combination of dazzling beauty, impeccable fashion, captivating staging, otherworldly physicality, and simultaneously earthy and skyscraping vocals all speaks for itself,” it added.
Although Taylor Swift was also a close contender for the number one spot, Billboard noted that Beyoncé had an advantage when it comes to the expansiveness of her career, making a clear distinction between many key categories. According to Billboard, the most remarkable thing about the singer’s greatness came from her consistency from the time that she began her solo career up until now.
“There were precisely zero moments in which Beyoncé was not *BEYONCÉ*. There are no flop eras for Bey, no periods where she disappeared for a half-decade, no clear missteps that were not immediately and emphatically course-corrected,” Billboard wrote.
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A huge part of why Beyoncé won the top spot was due to her start as a member of Destiny’s Child, continuing her career as a solo artist. Her live performances are also deemed iconic and have cemented their spot as the defining moment for pop superstardom.
For the last 25 years, Beyoncé has continued to challenge herself and the pop industry, finding new ways to reinvent and redefine greatness, and it looks like she won’t be stopping anytime soon.
