The publication caused a stir last week when it revealed Swift, 34, had been placed at number two, a decision that was branded a ‘complete joke’ by her devout ‘Swifties.’

But Swift bears no ill will towards the mother-of-three, 43, whom she has long seen as a ‘source of inspiration.’

‘Taylor couldn’t be happier about this’, an insider told DailyMail.com. ‘Beyoncé has had her back since day one when Kanye tried to take her award away. At the time Taylor was getting her start and Beyoncé was already a massive superstar.’

The pair have have enjoyed a long friendship since they crossed paths at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards where Kanye West interrupted Swift while she was accepting an award.

In the years since, they have spent time together privately, with Swift recently describing Beyoncé as a ‘guiding light’ throughout her meteoric rise to pop superstardom.

‘Since the VMAs, Taylor has looked up to Beyoncé as a source of inspiration,’ the insider continued. ‘She knows that she has been in this game longer and has had a massive influence.’

Fans hoping for a collaboration between the two biggest women in pop could be in luck, with neither party ruling out the possibility.

‘She is not against collaborating with her one day,’ the source added. ‘The two are close and in contact all the time.’

Responding to the online backlash Billboard has faced from Swift’s extremely passionate fan base, the source added: ‘While she is flattered that her fans are upset because they believe she should be number one, Taylor is humbled by the fact that she has built an empire.’

Billboard predicted that controversy would ‘tear through the internet over her being just one small space below No.1,’ something they described as ‘another testament to her power.’

They also reminded readers that Swift got a ‘much later’ start in the millennium in both ‘the genre and music in general.’

Still, Swifties were, as expected, enraged by the editorial decision made by Billboard’s staff, who undertook the difficult task of ranking the top 25 greatest pop stars of the 21st century.

Underneath the announcement on Instagram, a number of Swift fans expressed their outrage as they referred to the list as a ‘joke’ and firmly insisted the Fortnight hitmaker had been ‘robbed.’

‘This is pathetic and should ACTUALLY be corrected,’ commented one. ‘Who approved this list? First of all, yalls bs lists are always unbelievably inaccurate.’

Another wrote: ‘She deserved #1 don’t even lie she is the biggest artist of all time not just of the century.’

Their rage was further exacerbated when Billboard included footage of a nude wax figure of Swift in a video tribute celebrating her taking second place.

The image was from the music video for her nemesis West’s controversial track Famous.

‘We are deeply sorry to Taylor Swift and all of our readers and viewers that in a video celebrating Swift’s achievements, we included a clip that falsely depicted her,’ the publication wrote in an apology post shared on X. ‘We have removed the clip from our video and sincerely regret the harm we caused with this error.’

Beyoncé won the honor ‘based on her full 25 years of influence, evolution and impact,’ according to Billboard, despite Swift being the ‘century’s biggest pop star by the numbers.’

Beyoncé and Swift have only ever shown love and support for each other in public.

It started on the night when West humiliated Swift by interrupting her winners speech at VMAs and claiming Beyoncé’s Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) should have won Best Female Video over Swift’s You Belong With Me.

His rude comments were met with gasps from the audience while the camera panned to a mortified Beyoncé.

When she was later awarded, she called Swift back up to finish her speech and ‘have her moment.’

In a video interview with reporters after the show, Swift reacted to Beyoncé’s kind gesture and said: ‘She’s always just been a great person before anything else. Before the talented artist, the superstar, she’s always been a great person. And I just, I thought that I couldn’t love Beyoncé more… and then tonight happened and it was just wonderful.’

Then in 2014, Beyoncé and her rap mogul husband Jay Z attended Swift’s 25th birthday bash – with the couple dancing the night away at her home in New York City.

A few days after the birthday celebrations, the two women attended Justin Timberlake’s 20/20 Experience Tour at the Barclays Center.

The year after, Swift gushed about Beyoncé in a UK radio interview with Kiss FM as she stated: ‘I love her more than the normal amount… I try really hard not to like let (my fandom) get creepy.

‘I just really like channel it into a joyous admiration and appreciation.”

After many years of the pair exchanging friendly hugs and catching up at awards ceremonies, Swift then took the time to wish Beyoncé a happy 40th birthday in September 2021.

The Red singer joined a slew of other celebrities in acknowledging the birthday girl on reaching the massive milestone.

In a video, she said: ‘The fact that you have paved the road that every female artist is walking down now.

‘The fact that you’ve done so with such kindness and such grace.’ She then added, ‘To say I admire you — there’s just not a word for it.’

That same year saw Swift’s Folklore win the Grammy for album of the year and Beyoncé had nothing but praise for the star.

Swift revealed she had been sent a gorgeous bouquet of congratulatory flowers with a note that read: ‘Taylor, Congratulations on your GRAMMY. It was great seeing you on Sunday night.

‘Thank you for always being so supportive. Sending love to you & your family. B.’

The pair once again showcased their friendship in 2023 when they released feature films about their tours, The Eras World Tour and the Renaissance World Tour.

First, Beyoncé attended the premiere for the Eras Tour and Swift took to Instagram shortly after the big event to pay tribute to her idol.

In a boomerang, Swift and Beyoncé sat side by side at the theater and shared a bowl of popcorn which Beyoncé playfully tossed into the air.

In the caption, Swift gushed: ‘I’m so glad I’ll never know what my life would’ve been like without @beyonce‘s influence.

‘The way she’s taught me and every artist out here to break rules and defy industry norms.

‘Her generosity of spirit. Her resilience and versatility. She’s been a guiding light throughout my career and the fact that she showed up tonight was like an actual fairytale.’

Months later, Swift repaid the favor as she flew out to London for the Renaissance film premiere.

The singers were seen smiling as they posed arm-in-arm in front of the poster for the movie.

Swift shared the photo to Instagram and Twitter with the cute caption: ‘Got invited to London by the Queen!’