Greatest Pop Stars

Latest Episodes:

Which Pop Stars Won March 2025? Apr 03, 2025

Show notes

On this week's episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staffers Kyle Denis and Danielle Pascual to discuss the pop stars who dominated a comeback-heavy March 2025 in pop stardom. We each choose our top fives for the month that was, then we talk some disappointing recent performances, and look ahead to who we're most anticipating hearing more from as winter turns to spring.

If you enjoy the pod, check out our first two 2025 recaps:

Greatest Pop Stars of January 2025:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4VmxZrL0P2Yv7JEt9IXdhF?si=196670ad2a744b0b

Greatest Pop Stars of February 2025:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6SMNh13HnopRm8n6YmqRkm?si=7e8b592f58a34820

And please consider donating to the following causes (and check out our Trans Day of Visibility discussion with eight trans and non-binary artists):

https://www.billboard.com/lists/trans-day-visibility/

Transgender Law Center

https://transgenderlawcenter.org/

Trans Lifeline

https://translifeline.org/

Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe

https://www.gofundme.com/c/gender-confirmation-surgery-fundraising

Also, please consider subscribing to the trans legislation journalism of Erin Reed and

giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org.

https://www.erininthemorning.com/

https://5calls.org/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Great Moments in Pop Star History: Selena Gomez's "Bad Liar" Mar 27, 2025

Show notes

On this week's Great Moments in Pop Star History episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard's Jason Lipshutz, to talk about one of the most fascinating pop songs of the last decade, Selena Gomez's "Bad Liar." We look at why the song enraptured us upon release, why it won over so many critics but stalled on the charts, and whether it ended up being the major turning point in Selena Gomez's career that we thought it might be at the time.

If you enjoy the pod, please consider donating to the following trans rights causes:

Transgender Law Center

https://transgenderlawcenter.org/

Trans Lifeline

https://translifeline.org/

Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe

https://www.gofundme.com/c/gender-confirmation-surgery-fundraising

Also, please consider subscribing to the trans legislation journalism of Erin Reed and

giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org.

https://www.erininthemorning.com/

https://5calls.org/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vintage Pop Stardom: 1995 Madonna (with Keith Caulfield) Mar 20, 2025

Show notes

By 1995, Madonna was no longer the center-of-everything top 40 force she was a decade earlier, but she still a massive star about to enter one of the most fascinating phases of her career. On this Vintage Pop Stardom episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Keith Caulfield of the Billboard charts department (and the Pop Shop Podcast) to discuss the Queen of Pop's 1995. We cover her 'Bedtime Stories' and 'Something to Remember' eras and how it all led up to 'Evita,' as she scored huge pop hits and pivoted to a more adult cross-platform stardom, but maintained the envelope-pushing edge that made her so enduringly vital.

1995 Madonna YouTube Playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwFs58D1XAMZcTkwyaUHB8zRjUxqCc3QK&si=-XpD-FfzHrZis7Zr

If you enjoy the pod, please consider donating to the following causes:

Transgender Law Center

https://transgenderlawcenter.org/

Trans Lifeline

https://translifeline.org/

Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe

https://www.gofundme.com/c/gender-confirmation-surgery-fundraising

Also, please consider subscribing to the trans legislation journalism of Erin Reed and

giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org.

https://www.erininthemorning.com/

https://5calls.org/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rollout Report Card: Lady Gaga's 'Mayhem' Mar 13, 2025

Show notes

We're spending the first Greatest Pop Stars episode since the long-awaited Friday (March 7) release of Lady Gaga's 'Mayhem' talking about the entire album era, with a new series we're calling the Pop Star Rollout Report Card. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staffers Stephen Daw and Eric Frankenberg to evaluate everything that has gone into this Gaga era so far -- the old songs and the new songs of course, but also all her many interviews and performances, and what it all adds up to for each of us at the end of this extended rollout.

Lady Gaga's 'Mayhem' Rollout YouTube Playlist

If you enjoy the pod, please consider donating to the following causes:

Transgender Law Center.

Trans Lifeline

Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe

Also, please consider subscribing to the trans legislation journalism of Erin Reed and

giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Which Pop Stars Won February 2025? Mar 06, 2025

Show notes

On this week's episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staffers Meghan Mahar and Mike Sapoanra to discuss the pop stars who dominated an impressively packed February 2025 in pop stardom. We each choose our top fives for the month that was, then we talk some disappointing recent performances, and look ahead to who we're most anticipating hearing more from as winter turns to spring.

If you enjoy the pod, please consider donating to the following causes:

Transgender Law Center.

Trans Lifeline

Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe

And subscribe to the trans legislation journalism of Erin Reed.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Great Moments in Pop Star History: Jay-Z, Beyoncé & Solange See Grizzly Bear in Brooklyn (2009) Feb 27, 2025

Show notes

As unremarkable as it would probably seem in 2025, when Solange brought her sister Beyoncé and Bey's husband Jay-Z to go check out a Brooklyn show by the indie band Grizzly Bear back in 2009, it ended up being major headline news -- and shaping and reflecting the careers of all four artists. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Stereogum writer Chris DeVille -- whose book Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion covers the complete context behind this moment -- to unpack this iconic point on the pop-meets-indie timeline, what made it so notable at the time, and what it would might look like if something equivalent happened today.

Listen here, pre-order Such Great Heights here, and if you enjoy the pod, please consider donating to the following causes:

Transgender Law Center.

Trans Lifeline

Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Pop Star Performance Improvement Plan for Drake; Plus Kendrick, Sabrina, SNL 50 & More From a Busy Pop Weekend Feb 20, 2025

Show notes

Following the Grammys and the Super Bowl, it was yet another packed February weekend for pop stardom. Host Andrew Unterberger and regular GPS guest Kyle Denis hop around the cultural landscape to talk about big pop star moments from NBA All-Star Weekend and the 'SNL' 50th anniversary celebration, as well as big moments for Sabrina Carpenter, Selena Gomez and Kendrick Lamar. And of course, we cap it all with an extended look at Drake's comeback, and a strictly defined Pop Star Performance Improvement Plan that we're putting him on to help get him back on track for the rest of the decade.

Listen here, and if you enjoy the pod, please consider donating to the following causes:

Transgender Law Center:

Trans Lifeline

Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vintage Pop Stardom: 1985 Phil Collins (with Chris Molanphy) Feb 13, 2025

Show notes

No one could've seen him coming, but by 1985, Phil Collins was one of the biggest, hardest working and most sheerly unavoidable pop stars on the planet -- and also one of the greatest. On this Vintage Pop Stardom episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by pop and chart history expert Chris Molanphy to remember all things '85 Phil -- including "Easy Lover," 'No Jacket Required' and its many hits, 'Miami Vice,' and both coasts of Live Aid -- and answer the improbable question: Was Phil Collins the Greatest Pop Star of 1985?

If you enjoy the pod, please consider donating to the following causes:

Transgender Law Center:

Trans Lifeline

The Trevor Project

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greatest Pop Star Instant Reaction: How'd Kendrick Lamar Do at the Super Bowl? Feb 11, 2025

Show notes

It's our Greatest Pop Star of 2024's biggest moment yet! After many months of buzz and controversy, Kendrick Lamar took the stage at Super Bowl LIX to cap his last year of triumph, delivering one of the most-anticipated halftime show sets of our lifetime. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staffers Eric Frankenberg and Meghan Mahar to discuss how Kendrick did in his career-culminating gig, what it means for his pop stardom moving forward, what parts of it feel like instantly iconic moments and what parts feel more like missed opportunities.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Which Pop Stars Won January 2025? Feb 06, 2025

Show notes

On this week's episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staffers Stephen Daw and Kyle Denis to discuss the pop stars who are leading the Greatest Pop Stars race for 2025 after one month (plus Grammy weekend in February). We each choose our top fives, then we talk some disappointing starts to the season, and make some predictions about who we're going to be talking about at the end of February.

If you enjoy the pod, please consider donating to the following causes:

Transgender Law Center: https://transgenderlawcenter.org/

Trans Lifeline: https://translifeline.org/

Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/c/gender-confirmation-surgery-fundraising

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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