Billboard's 'Best Pop Stars' list is causing major controversy. A Taylor Swift photo tipped it over the edge.

When it comes to ranking musicians for no apparent reason, no one is doing it quite like American publications. 

Whether it's Rolling Stone or Billboard, these iconic brands are doing the most to ensure a viral moment (or two) when they collate their lists of "The Best Female Singer" or "The Best New Country Artist of October, 2024."

Okay I made that up, but that's how frequent these events sound to me.

The lists seem to be never-ending, especially thanks to the drama and mind-numbing 'discourse' they create between fandoms who — now, let's all be honest — simply wanted an excuse to argue. 

Billboard's latest foray into the lion's den of internet fandom has seen them create a list of the 'The Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century'. 

"With the first quarter of the 21st century coming to a close, Billboard has spent the last few months counting down our staff picks for the 25 greatest pop stars of the last 25 years," their description reads.

The list accounts for charting success, music videos, live performances, cultural importance and "overall omnipresence." It's a fake set of criteria because, again, this is a made-up thing. But the internet has taken it very seriously, as if this is the ultimate ranking that will define the success and careers of all stars involved. 

Taylor Swift talks about the music industry in her Billboard Woman of the Decade speech. Post continues below.

The list has included Katy Perry, in the very last slot at Number 25, and other stars like Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, One Direction, The Weeknd, Shakira, Usher, Nicki Minaj and Miley Cyrus in the first 15 slots.

Fans across social media channels were outraged by each new announcement (if it didn't align with their own personal tastes). An undercurrent of vitriol against Taylor Swift ran through the drama. With each announcement, fans claimed it wouldn't be fair if "the blonde singer" won.

The Top 10 is where things got a little more controversial for fans, who questioned why rappers like Eminem or Kanye West were ranked above actual pop stars on this list of… pop music singers. 

As we approached the final names, things were getting tense. 

The powerhouse that is Adele came in at number 10, while the wickedly talented Ariana Grande came in ninth… behind rapper Kanye West, who was seventh. Justin Bieber was placed in the middle of the two at number eight, and his wife Hailey Bieber left an Instagram comment calling Billboard "a joke."

Britney Spears was sixth on the list, which fans weren't loving. But her peer, Christina Aguilera, wasn't even included, so we take our wins where we can.

Lady Gaga, a genuine icon of the industry, with some of the biggest and most influential music of the century, came in fifth… behind Drake, who was somehow fourth.

Rihanna came in third, which I personally loved. Not only was she a chart-topping force from the get-go, who inspired plenty of copycats in the industry, she also hasn't released an album in eight years and yet remains one of the most-streamed artists on Spotify. That's impact!

With just Taylor Swift and Beyoncé left to name, we found ourselves in familiar territory as we waited for the next result. It's the showdown we know so well.

Taylor Swift was announced as Billboard's No 2. on the list of 'The Greatest Popstars'. Chaos ensued, but not for the reasons you might think. 

#Billboardisoverparty started trending on X (also known as Twitter) shortly after the announcement, with some seeing the hashtga and accusing Swifties of not being able to "take the loss."

The actual reason for the hashtag, however, had nothing to do with rankings. It had to do with a controversial image.

Taylor Swift was given the second spot on Billboard's list of 'Greatest Pop Stars.' Image: Getty.

In Billboard's 'celebration' video of Taylor, they included an image from Kanye West's Famous music video. The video depicted a hyper-realistic wax figure of Taylor Swift, naked. 

It was created for the music video after their previously buried VMAs feud picked back up in 2016, when Swift expressed distaste over Kanye's lyrics in his new song, Famous.

Taylor made a speech at The Grammy Awards, hitting back at the song's claims he made her famous. Kanye's then-wife, Kim Kardashian, posted a 'full' clip of the phone call that showed Taylor talking to Kanye about the song. Kim, and the rest of her sisters, led the #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty and branded her a snake, a title she'd later adopt for her comeback album, Reputation. In a behind-the-scenes look at the moment from Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kris Jenner begged Kim to "call Taylor up" rather than posting.

At the time, Taylor responded to say the clip did not show the full phone call, and reiterated that she'd always said her problem was that he didn't play her the line "I made that bitch famous." She asked to be excluded from the narrative, and withdrew from public life for one year.

Of course, the drama would eventually swing the other way when it was revealed — via a leaked video recording that can't possibly have come from Taylor, since it was recorded by Kanye's camp — that Kim had cropped the footage she posted and Taylor was always telling the truth. Of course, that story is complex and we don't have time unpack all that. You can revisit the saga here.

But the wax figure, in particular, pointed to the cruel and mocking nature of this cancellation. There are images of Kim Kardashian gleefully leaning over the fake, naked body when it was put on display in an 'art exhibit'. There are videos of Kanye leading a 'F**k Taylor Swift' chant at his concert. It was a joyous occasion to cancel her.

Swift has spoken previously of the mental health issues she suffered as a result of this point in her life. While her status returned and her fame has actually multiplied in the years since, Swift was never the same. And hatred of her still runs deep on social media.

So the question, then, is why would Billboard include the cataclysmic moment in their video allegedly celebrating her achievements? That's what the Swifties wanted to know. And it turned out, other fandoms were willing to come together in support of the new #BillboardIsOverParty hashtag.

Taylor Swift had mended her relationship with Kanye West, before he released the song 'Famous'. Image: Getty.

As the controversy picked up on Twitter, Billboard took several hours to remove the clip and address the issue.

"You don't have to bring up women's traumas every chance you get," one fan wrote. 

Fandoms joined forces, with the hashtag becoming bigger and bigger as Arianators or Selenators joined in.

Some fans even likened the image to 'revenge porn' and included further calls to edit Billboard's other bios on female artists.

"Those articles about not just Taylor but Nicki, Rihanna, Katy and much more were awful. They deserve an apology," one fan wrote, referencing the individual articles dedicated to each winner. 

"Using a revenge porn pic in a video which is supposed to highlight Taylor Swift's career, Chris Brown's violence in an article about Rihanna, bringing up Britney's conservatorship abuse… is misogynistic," another wrote.

Billboard put up an apology on Twitter, after removing the video from all of their accounts.

"We are deeply sorry to Taylor Swift and all of our readers and viewers that in a video celebrating Swift's achievements, we included a clip that falsely depicted her. We have removed the clip from our video and sincerely regret the harm we caused with this error," they wrote.

Though, the statement was certainly not met with gratitude as fans questioned how this could be seen as an error.

We are deeply sorry to Taylor Swift and all of our readers and viewers that in a video celebrating Swift’s achievements, we included a clip that falsely depicted her. We have removed the clip from our video and sincerely regret the harm we caused with this error.

— billboard (@billboard) November 28, 2024

The heightened drama is unlikely to die down until long after Beyoncé is named winner of this list. I mean, we all assume she will be.

Arbitrary rankings are pretty much put into the world to cause exciting chaos and generate buzz. We all know what internet fandoms are like: Swifties, Arianators, Beliebers, Selenators, the Beyhive. They're ride-or-die for their favourite stars, and you can count on them to engage with content if you put it out there. Which was the obvious plan here.

I would actually say most fans are capable of being normal on the internet.

I'm a major pop music girlie who quite literally spends more than 120,000 minutes of her year listening to Spotify. Shout out to Spotify Wrapped for that haunting data! I'm a huge fan of pretty much every main pop star there is.

Yet, I've never wanted to send a hate comment online about an artist I don't like. It's never crossed my mind, and I would assume a majority of people are in the same boat. But a smaller percentage of fans will truly go to war online over their faves and the chaos it births is unmatched.

As the conversation continues and the fandoms return to their battle stations, I'd like to remind us all of one thing: there is space for all these women in pop music.

Taylor Swift knows that, too.

"I'm so glad I'll never know what my life would've been like without Beyoncé's influence," she said in 2023, as Bey attended The Eras Tour premiere. "The way she's taught me and every artist out here to break rules and defy industry norms. Her generosity of spirit. Her resilience and versatility. She's been a guiding light throughout my career."

Image: Instagram/@taylorswift @masonpoole.