Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century Podcast: Beyoncé (No. 1)

On today’s (Dec. 4) episode of the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century podcast, we finally get to No. 1 on our list with the period’s true standard-setter, a pop star who set the bar 25 years ago and has only continued to raise it in the years since. (Read our No. 1 Greatest Pop Star essay about Beyoncé here.)

Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by a pair of longtime Beyologists in Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop chart manager Trevor Anderson and staff writer Kyle Denis to recap a full quarter century of all things Beyoncé. We start by breaking down the big-picture reasons why she was ultimately named our No. 1 Greatest Pop Star of the century, as well as the argument for Taylor Swift and whether or not anyone we think else could have really gotten into the discussion. We also share some quick thoughts about our 100 Greatest Beyoncé Moments list, and talk about what other artists (if any) we could’ve put together such a list for.

Then, we run through 25 years of Beyoncé: an absolutely singular journey, from her days lighting up TRL as the leader of Destiny’s Child, to her game-changing solo debut, to her industry-quaking run as one of the great albums artists of the 2010s, to a universally venerated legend who continues to pursue (and achieve) greatness in every part of her artistry. Then, we have some fun playing a little game of “A or Bey,” remember some of our favorite in-song moments, performances and oddities from the Beyoncé back catalogue, and make some predictions — including a couple awards-related guesses — about what the future may hold for the Queen.

Check it out above, find all our past episodes here, and be sure to subscribe to Billboard‘s Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century series wherever you get your podcasts! (And we’re not done yet: We’ve got AJ Marks of r/Popheads coming on soon to do a post-mortem on the entire series — and then we’ve got the rollout of our 10 Greatest Pop Stars of 2024, starting later this month.)