How Did the Greatest Pop Stars Fare on Our Staff’s Year-End Songs and Albums Lists?
It’s the most wonderful time of the year for music publications: year-end list season. On Billboard, we spent all of Tuesday (Dec. 9) rolling out our year-end charts, and the next two days revealing our staff’s picks for the 50 best albums and 100 best songs of 2025. (No spoilers here, but definitely check out both lists.) Our final Greatest Pop Stars of 2025 ranking is going to have to wait until January — but in the meantime, we’re spending this week on the Greatest Pop Stars podcast discussing our year-end songs and albums lists.
Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard executive director of music Jason Lipshutz — recently back from paternity leave, which forced him to miss the crux of Billboard year-end season for the first time in a decade — to go over the top 10s of those lists, and particularly how the biggest superstars of 2025 fared on them, and what we should take away from their rankings. We also mention some favorites that didn’t quite make the cut, and of course discuss the implications of our lists on the Greatest Pop Stars of 2025 race.
Along the way, we answer the most important pop star-related questions surrounding our year-end lists: Is Bad Bunny now one of the greatest albums artists of this generation? Are older pop fans more predisposed to embrace The Life of a Showgirl than younger ones? Did Jade’s That’s Showbiz, Baby! get a raw deal? Can “Golden” ultimately outlive the KPop Demon Hunters moment? Will “Abracadabra” ultimately be a major part of Lady Gaga’s legacy? Is pop music about to be overwhelmed with “Sally of the Night” type live gimmicks? And perhaps most importantly: Are either of our list-toppers now real contenders for the top spot on our Greatest Pop Stars of 2025 rankings?
Check it out above, along with a YouTube playlist of some of the greatest moments in November 2025 pop stardom — and find our year-end albums and songs lists again here — and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!
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Also, please consider giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org.
