Swifties should be unthankful as Billboard disrespects Taylor Swift

Billboard is counting down its list of greatest pop stars of the 21st century.
Billboard Women In Music 2019
Billboard Women In Music 2019 / Kevin Mazur/GettyImages
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Taylor Swift is the new queen of pop. We all know this. Why would there even be a discussion otherwise, right? Well, Billboard would disagree with that statement. As it turns out, the developer of music charts thinks Swift is only a princess of pop, not the queen (we assume it is a queen, but more on that in just a minute).

Billboard is releasing - slowly - its Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century, and there are some cool bits about it. At least four of the top six musical artists will be women. After most of pop and rock was malle-dominated for decades, female artists are rightfully claiming what is theirs. They can sing and dance, sure, but they can write some astonishingly good songs as well.

Britney Spears is listed at number six, Lady Gag is number five, Drake (somehow) comes in at number four, Rihanna at number three, and, yes...Taylor Swift comes in at number two. But number two? Really? After making the leap from country music in the 2010s, Swift has dominated not just pop music, but culture as a whole.

Taylor Swift gets too low of ranking in Billboard's list of Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century

Billboard has not told us who is number one yet, but the assumption is that it will be Beyoncé. This appears to be a safe assumption because Queen Bey does not come in anywhere else in the top six, and surely, she would. But is Beyoncé a true pop artist or one who mostly stays in the R&B realm? Plus, Billboard cannot include Beyoncé's most recent album, Cowboy Carter, which is country, if it also does not include Swift's early country records.

This is not to say that Beyoncé or Taylor Swift are not deserving of the top spot, but only one can rule them all, and that has to be Swift. For example, both artists had concert films come out over the last year, but Beyoncé's film, Renaissance, grossed around $44 million while Swift's Eras Tour film grossed $261 million. That alone tells someone the power of Swift versus the wonderful Beyoncé.

Again, both Beyoncé and Taylor Swift are great at what they do. But only one should reign supreme on Billboard's ranking and that needs to be Swift. Of course, if we are assuming incorrectly that Beyoncé is not at the top spot and someone else is then the whole Billboard ranking is ridiculous.

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