Beyoncé has accomplished almost everything one can imagine during her decades-long music career, but she’s never had a Diamond single until this week — and now, she has two.
On Tuesday (December 17) Queen Bey got a stunning 58 new certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for albums and singles spanning her entire solo career.
With sales like these for a catalog dating back to 2003 (not to mention another slew of Gold, Platinum, and multi-Platinum certifications for her work with Destiny’s Child), it’s no wonder that the singer was recently named the greatest pop star of the 21st century by Billboard.
The publication debuted their staff-chosen top pick in early December after counting down from 25, putting Taylor Swift at No. 2 despite noting she’s “the century’s biggest pop star by the numbers.”
“Few artists this period can match her in any of the most critical basic categories of pop stardom – commercial success, performance abilities, critical acclaim and accolades, industry influence, iconic cultural moments – and absolutely no one can equal her in all of them,” Billboard said of Bey. “Even Taylor Swift, the lone artist who really challenged Beyoncé for the top spot on these rankings – and who does have a clear statistical lead on Bey in many key categories… – simply hasn’t been around for long enough to be able to match the expansiveness of her quarter-century of dominance.”
Of her many accolades since the 21st century began, Bey has 12 No. 1 singles, 10 No. 1 albums, 32 top 10 singles and is the most-awarded artist in Grammy history with 32 trophies – and likely more to come as she’s nominated 11 times for the forthcoming 2025 Grammy Awards.
As another testament to her greatness, it was recently announced that fans at Yale University will be able to take a course about the singer titled ‘Beyoncé Makes History’ in the Spring 2025 semester.
Professor of African American Studies and Music Daphne Brooks will teach the class, which according to a report from the Yale Daily News “will examine Beyoncé’s artistic work from 2013 to 2024 as a lens to study Black history, intellectual thought and performance.”