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King X

Beyonce's #1 on Billboard's 100 Greatest Award Show Performance

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1. Beyonce, Lemonade Medley (MTV Video Music Awards, 2016)

 

If you think we need more than half a year's distance to declare Beyonce's Lemonade melange the pinnacle of the award-show performance, maybe ask presenter Serena Williams how long she thinks tennis fans should wait after her latest major win before declaring her the GOAT. Fact is, Bey's 18-minute performance was so far ahead of the pack that comparing her to the rest of award show history feels like sizing public-access TV against Game of Thrones; the scale is just so wildly different that the comparison does no one any favors.

Truly, Beyonce's only real competition here was herself from two years earlier. But while her self-titled performance in '14 was still essentially a medley, this was nothing less than one-act drama in which Bey was star, playwright and conductor, taking a baseball bat to any performer who dared laze their way through a performance, thinking sheer star power would put them over. It was memorable and meme-able, technically proficient and emotionally enthralling, unpredictable and thoroughly un-followable. It was Beyonce at the VMAs, and it gets no better than that.

 

 

She also made 2 other appearances:

 

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46. Beyonce, Beyonce Medley (Video Music Awards, 2014)

In which the VMAs established their infallible model for '10s success: When in doubt, Beyonce. Hitting on all 14 tracks from Bey's industry-flipping self-titled effort, the 18-minute performance's famously unequivocal messaging established the pop star as an active freedom-fighter, and its jaw-dropping professionalism cemented her as the pre-eminent live performer of her era -- truthfully, we'd be talking about this as an all-timer if she hadn't one-upped herself so dramatically two years later.

 

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33. Beyonce & Dixie Chicks, "Daddy Lessons" / "Long Time Gone" (Country Music Association Awards, 2016)

If for no other reason than because she simply hadn't yet, Beyonce cameoed at the '16 CMA Awards, with her folky blues stomper -- eh, country, close enough -- with the Dixie Chicks in tow, summoning a hoedown so rootin' tootin' that it inspired Bey to update her SoundCloud account for the first time in years. And when she decides she wants to play the Alternative Press Music Awards, she'll probably own those too.

 

 

I would replace the CMA's performance with Single Ladies at the 09 VMA's, but all well-deserved clap2

 

Full list here: http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/grammys/7677099/best-award-show-performances-of-all-time

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Just now, King X said:

Were these performances already listed, or were they excluded? I'm trying to guess

 

I don't know which one it should be, I just personally think there are some better ones than that one. Maybe a Madonna or MJ one should be #1.

 

P.S. "Like A Virgin / Hollywood" deserved higher than 74.

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Talent always wins  

She also made 2 other appearances:     I would replace the CMA's performance with Single Ladies at the 09 VMA's, but all well-deserved   Full list here: http://www.billboa

That performance snatched me bald.


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