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Billboard’s Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century: No. 1 — Beyoncé
Beyoncé is our Greatest Pop Star of the 21st Century for her 25 years of consistent greatness.
Fans found out about the lineup change when the “Name” video debuted in February 2000 with new members Farrah Franklin and Michelle Williams joining Bey and longtime friend Kelly Rowland in the clip in place of LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett, who’d both sung and written on the song, and who had accused Matthew Knowles – the group’s manager and Beyoncé’s father – of withholding profits. The song had no real instrumental melody, but Beyoncé’s vocal hooks came so fast and furious that it still became one of the late-decade’s defining hits – helped by a low-budget, hyper-kinetically choreographed video that quickly infiltrated all corners of pop culture, recreated by everyone from Justin Timberlake on Saturday Night Live to Liza Minnelli in the Sex and the City 2 film. Still, visuals like Beyoncé lounging in a throne-like chair next to a twerking Serena Williams in the “Sorry” clip and wielding a baseball bat while strutting down the street in a yellow dress in “Hold Up” became unforgettable mid-’10s snapshot images, while lyrical hooks across the album like “He better call Becky with the good hair” and “I got hot sauce in my bag, swag” proved majorly memeable.
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