Jay-Z and Beyonce received the highest honor on Billboard's annual Power 100 list

Jay-Z and Beyonce continue to take the music industry by storm.

Jay-Z and Beyonce didn’t just release two wildly popular albums last year. They did so in a manner that no two other artists had ever done before.

By redefining the music industry, they received the highest honor on Billboard’s annual Power 100 list.


Artists have always had the power but courage is in short supply. It’s just that the hip-hop generation believes in the possibilities,Jay and Beyonce don’t listen to the noise—they make the noise.”
The Roc Nation founder was a man of the people last summer when he released his Magna Carta… Holy Grail album for free exclusively for five days to 1 million Samsung customers.
“We’ve got to continue to find ways to put music in the hands of the fans, and I think this is a great way to do it,” Big Machine Label Group CEO Scott Borchetta told Billboard at the time of the Jay Z announcement. “You’ve got to have cutting-edge ideas with cutting-edge companies who are ready, willing and able to reach a mass audience. It’s great Jay Z is forcing all of us to think this way.”
The July 4 stunt helped Samsung launch their Galaxy S4 smartphone against heavyweight Apple.
But Apple would have the last laugh by year’s end, when Beyonce surprised everyone with a midnight release of her new album on iTunes. The XO singer’s self-titled album sold 80,000 copies in the first three hours of its Dec. 13 release and 850,000 copies in the first week.
Come on Jay, who run the world?
“The release of Beyonce’s album was a great way to finish the year.