Introducing Billboard’s 25 Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century Podcast: Listen to the First Three Episodes Now

Earlier this month, we here at Billboard began our staff countdown of the 25 Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century — the artists who, by our estimation, have best exemplified and influenced pop stardom over the course of the past 25 years. We’ve been rolling out two of them a week, and will continue to unveil our picks (along with accompanying essays celebrating each artist) over the course of the next few months, as we make our way towards naming our No. 1.

However, just writing about these artists didn’t feel like quite enough to capture all our feelings about these artists and their impact. So today, we’re launching the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century podcast — publishing every week from now until we’re done our countdown, and going deep as we can on each of the artists on our list. Hosted by deputy editor Andrew Unterberger and featuring a rotating cast of Billboard editors, writers and contributors as co-stars, we’ll be encapsulating these artists from both the industry insider and the pop superfan perspective, while discussing everything about them from their most iconic moment to their best song to perform at karaoke.

Three episodes of the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century podcast are already live. Our first episode, with Unterberger joined by Billboard director of music Jason Lipshutz and staff writer Kyle Denis, covers our Honorable Mentions, as we quickly touch on the 25 closest-but-not-quite artists who just missed the cut for our top 25 — as well as a handful of personal favorites we just couldn’t find room for.

Then, in episode two, Unterberger and Lipshutz discuss Katy Perry (No. 25) with executive director and original KatyKat Joe Lynch, and then talk Ed Sheeran (No. 24) with senior producer, branded content and Ed Sheeran superfan Walaa Elsiddig. Finally, episode three covers all things Bad Bunny (No. 23), with Unterberger joined by BB conejos Isabela Raygoza (Billboard Español associate editor) and Emily Fuentes (senior manager, content and production), and then pivots to One Direction (No. 22) with two longtime Directioners in tow: social media manager Danielle Pascual and E-commerce writer Rylee Johnston. 

Check out our first three episodes below, and be sure to subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts to be notified of new episodes every Friday!