It's true. Even though Binance bought CMC it doesn't mean that it isn't fair that Binance is top 1. Even if they didn't bought CMC binance will still take the seat. Like you said, Binance has a great reputation overall. And one of the golden coins. So there's no doubt that binance will dominate the chart.
CMC gives the opportunity for Binance to take the lead as they know the capability of it. The dominating power of this exchange had never changed since from the start, instead, it is getting more popular and stronger. Binance has built its good reputation that people are soo much to believe it that they can manage CMC in a fair manner.
CMC didn't give the opportunity but binance was getting placed on the first place based on its liquidity pool. If CMC was placing binance on the first place without strong factors and ti can be considered as a manipulation.