Greatest Pop Stars

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21st Century Nos. 15 & 14: Miley Cyrus & Justin Timberlake Sep 27, 2024

Show notes

This week, we've got a pair of Tennessee natives in Miley Cyrus and Justin Timberlake. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by a pair of Smilers in Billboard Social's Danielle Pascual and Billboard Pride's Stephen Daw to talk about how they've grown up with Miley over the past 18 years. Then (at 59:03), Jason Lipshutz and Trevor Anderson return to Greatest Pop Stars to track the highs and lows of Justin Timberlake, and explain why you had to be there to understand just how great he was at his '00s peak.

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21st Century Nos. 17 & 16: Shakira & Jay-Z Sep 20, 2024

Show notes

This week, we've got two artists who go back even further than the beginning of the 21st century: Shakira & Jay-Z. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Isabela Raygoza and Sigal Ratner-Arias of Billboard Español to talk about Shak's emergence as a global superstar and how she's maintained that status for 20-plus years, and then (38:38) Billboard Hip-Hop's Angel Diaz and Michael Saponara tap in to discuss Hov's reign as the closest thing to a consensus greatest rapper of all time, and how he also intersected and helped shape the pop world at his peak.

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21st Century Nos. 19 & 18: BTS & The Weeknd Sep 13, 2024

Show notes

This week, it's a 2020 flashback as Billboard takes on perhaps the two biggest pop acts of the first year of this decade: BTS and The Weeknd. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined first by Jason Lipshutz and Billboard K-pop correspondent Jeff Benjamin to go deep on the Bangtan Boys and their global impact as hitmakers and generational spokesmen, then Kyle Denis and Senior R&B/Hip-Hop/Afrobeats Writer Heran Mamo stop by to talk Abel Tesfaye (1:08:05), and how a guy who emerged in the shadows eventually scored the biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit of all time.

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21st Century Nos. 21 & 20: Lil Wayne & Bruno Mars Sep 06, 2024

Show notes

This week on Greatest Pop Stars, we're talking about the men in the "Mirror": Lil Wayne (No. 21) and Bruno Mars (No. 20). First, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Kyle Denis and Carl Lamarre to talk about the pop star qualifications of the self-proclaimed best rapper alive -- the peerlessly prolific Lil Wayne -- and then Andrew and Kyle return with Trevor Anderson to discuss the immaculately curated catalog of Bruno Mars (45:40), the rare pop star without a single true flop on his resume.

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21st Century Nos. 23 & 22: Bad Bunny and One Direction Aug 30, 2024

Show notes

This week Billboard goes international, with Puerto Rico's Bad Bunny (No. 23) and England's One Direction (No. 22)! Host Andrew Unterberger is joined first by BB's preeminent Conejos, Isabela Raygoza and Emily Fuentes, to talk about Bad Bunny's historic rise to superstardom, and then staff Directioners Danielle Pascual and Rylee Johnston check in to discuss how 1D changed pop stardom (and pop standom) in the 2010s.

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21st Century Nos. 25 & 24: Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran Aug 23, 2024

Show notes

Our countdown is officially underway with our first two Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century: Katy Perry (No. 25) and Ed Sheeran (No. 24)! Billboard's Andrew Unterberger and Jason Lipshutz are joined by longtime KatyKat Joe Lynch to remember the dizzying highs of Perry's early-2010s run, then Sheeran superfan (don't call her a Sheerio!) Walaa Elsiddiq comes on to discuss Ed's unlikely rise from coffeehouses to stadiums.

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Introduction to 21st Century & Our 25 Honorable Mentions Aug 19, 2024

Show notes

Welcome to the 25 Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century! Before we start counting down our top 25 over the next four months, Billboard's deputy editor Andrew Unterberger, executive director of music Jason Lipshutz and staff writer Kyle Denis quickly run through the best of the rest -- the pop stars from Nelly to Billie Eilish who were the absolute toughest cuts from our list.

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