Fifteen years ago, Beyoncé stepped back to let Taylor Swift have her shining moment at the VMAs- a moment that was unfortunately hijacked by none other than Ye, aka Kanye West. As Beyoncé took the stage to accept the top award of the night, Video of the Year, she reminisced about getting her first Moon Man at just 17, a moment that was a dream come true. She wanted Taylor Swift to experience that same thrill. Since then, these two musical powerhouses have not only remained close but have also been ruling the VMAs.

While Beyoncé took the lead among the two, this year, Taylor Swift changed that.

Taylor Swift had already been dominating with the most nominations at the VMAs for the past few years. Last year, she walked away with nine awards, bringing her VMA tally to 23. She was just 3 awards shy of breaking Beyoncé’s record for the most VMAs won by a female artist, which stood at 26. Though the tally of Beyoncé’s VMA trinkets wavers between 25 and 27 — depending on who is doing the counting, be it Forbes or Variety — the math became all too clear when Taylor Swift swooped in winning Best Collaboration, Best Direction, Video of the Year, Best Editing, and Song of Summer.

Taylor Swift was nominated for 10 awards at the 2024 VMAs, and she won 7 of them, officially taking the crown of the most number of VMA trophies from Beyoncé . While there is definitely some healthy competition between Swift and Beyoncé, they are still the best of friends. A few months ago, Swift opened up about the heartwarming, years-long friendship she shares with Beyoncé.

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Taylor Swift also addressed the pop culture discourse about who is the bigger star between the pop queens.

Back in December 2023, Taylor Swift, in her TIME Person of the Year cover story, opened up about her close bond with Beyoncé. Describing the 43-year-old as “the most precious gem of a person,” Swift praised Beyoncé for shaking up music industry norms, showing artists how to flip the script, and challenging outdated business practices. She also addressed the comparison of her global Eras Tour to Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour. Fans have been debating endlessly over which tour is the best or most successful.

According to TIME, Swift finds these comparisons a bit off-putting. “There were so many stadium tours this summer, but the only ones that were compared were me and Beyoncé," said the 'Lover' singer. The pop star dismissed it as mere “lucrative” media chatter. The mutual respect between these two icons is evident in how they both showed up for each other’s concert film premieres. No matter who ends up with the most VMAs, Beyoncé and Swift are surely setting the gold standard for women supporting each other, even while they are neck and neck.

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What do you think about Taylor Swift beating Beyoncé's record? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!