After a period of teasing, on the morning of December 4, Billboard officially announced the list of 25 greatest stars of the 21st century.

Taylor Swift lost to Beyoncé

According to the chart, Beyoncé took the first place, becoming the greatest star of the century. Debuting in 1997, with only 7 studio albums, the singer of Break my soul quickly became a global cultural icon.

She is known by the nickname “Queen bee”, named the highest position in the list of the most influential female musicians of the 21st century voted by National Public Radio.

Beyoncé is the biggest star of the 21st century – Photo: Billboard

Following the “queen bee” Beyoncé is Taylor Swift. Recovering from the noise related to Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, the singer of “Cruel Summer” has had a successful transition.

Taylor Swift’s three consecutive studio albums, Lover, Folklore, and Evermore, all quickly took the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart.

In particular, Lover became the world’s best-selling album by a solo artist in 2019.

In 2023, the “snake queen” launched the global tour The Eras Tour.

Taylor Swift’s tour includes hundreds of shows, traveling through North, South America, and Asia. According to Pollstar statistics, by the end of 2023 The Eras Tour earned more than 1.04 billion USD (about 25,000 billion VND).

Despite setting records, Taylor Swift still can’t compete with Beyoncé – Photo: Reuters

However, Taylor Swift still lost to Beyoncé. Explaining this, Billboard said: “Taylor Swift is currently dominating the charts with album sales, digital music and tour success.

However, our team decided to choose Beyoncé because of her profound influence and strong impact over the past 25 years.”

However, Billboard’s explanation was still not enough to satisfy the audience. Before announcing the entire list, Billboard faced a wave of controversy between the champion and runner-up positions on this chart.

BTS unexpectedly surpasses Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran

The remaining 23 artists on Billboard’s list include Rihanna, Drake, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Adele, Usher, Eminem, Nicki Minaj, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Jay Z, Shakira, The Weeknd, BTS, Bruno Mars, Lil Wayne, One Direction, Bad Bunny, Ed Sheeran and Katy Perry.

Notably, among the US-UK artists, BTS is the only K-pop group to become the greatest star of the 21st century.

BTS is the only Asian artist on the list – Photo: Big Hit Music

The achievements of the HYBE boy group make fans proud. On social media, fans left comments: “BTS is the only Asian representative. So awesome”; “Proud of the 7”; “BTS is ahead of Bruno Mars, Ed Sheenran”…

However, many viewers expressed surprise and confusion when Katy Perry, Ed Sheenran, and even Bruno Mars – a Grammy winner – ranked after BTS. They said that with the achievements of the 7 members, BTS is still not “qualified” enough to be on this list.

Despite 15 Grammy Awards, Bruno Mars is still behind BTS – Photo: Hyundai Card

In addition, Billboard’s 25 Greatest Stars of the 21st Century ranking also raised big questions for the public when it was absent from a series of famous stars such as Kendrick Lamar, Justin Bieber, Charlie Puth…