Billboard explains why it snubbed Lana Del Rey from its greatest 21st century pop stars list

The Billboard ranking of the top 25 greatest pop stars of the 21st century has been nothing short of divisive. Sure, you can never please everyone and certainly not with a list like this. To be fair to Billboard, I think mostly it is an incredibly fair and considered ranking that has built steadily up to its reveal of the top two – widely presumed to be Beyoncé and Taylor Swift. But despite the artists mostly being compiled satisfying, the Billboard ranking has snubbed one artist who definitely deserved to be there – Lana Del Rey. And Billboard has actually explained why.

where is Lana on that billboard’s greatest pop star list ?

— Abel Tesfaye (@theweeknd) November 19, 2024

The Weeknd said it best – where is Lana? Lana Del Rey has been one of, if not THEE – actually, defining artists of the 2010s and the 2020s. Whilst she may not have a billion top 10 hit singles, all her albums have been insanely commercially successful and her streaming numbers are very high.

As well as that, Lana Del Rey has been the main influence on other contenders who didn’t quite make the cut like Billie Eilish, who famously said she wouldn’t be here doing what she’s doing without Lana. She’s the sad girl pop star blueprint and her influence is everywhere. Addison Rae this year got a top 10 single with Diet Pepsi that sounds heavily influenced by Born To Die. Lana is everywhere.

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Well, Billboard gave its reason on why it snubbed Lana Del Rey from the ranking. Writing the reason why she didn’t make the cut on its honourable mentions article, Billboard explains “Formidable as the Cult of Lana has become over the past decade-plus, it is still mostly a cult – her actual top 40 presence has been more minimal than you’d think, with her only two Hot 100 top 10 appearances coming via an uncharacteristic EDM remix and a chill sesh alongside the world’s biggest artist.”

Basically, not enough hits. Which seems arbitrary, but Billboard is literally the charts – so you can see why it’s important to them.

Billboard did also shower on the Lana praise, saying “Del Rey was as influential as any artist of the past 15 years in changing the overall direction of pop music – providing a transformative downtempo alternative to the turbo-pop that ruled in the early ‘10s with something heavier, more theatrical and much more narratively murky, but all still just as alluring and world-building. You’d have an easier time building a list of major pop stars who haven’t rightly paid homage to the Venice Bitch in the years since.”

God Del Rey.

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