Billboard Staff’s Greatest Pop Stars of 2024: No. 6 — Ariana Grande

For this year’s update of our ongoing Greatest Pop Star by Year project, Billboard will be counting down our editorial staff picks for the 10 Greatest Pop Stars from 2024 all this week — you can see the artists we’ve already counted down, plus our Honorable Mentions, Comeback of the Year and our Rookie of the Year artists all right here. Now, at No. 6, we remember the year in Ariana Grande — who made major impact in the worlds of music, television and film in 2024, not to mention across the whole internet.

Ariana Grande began 2024 less like her bubbly Wicked character Galinda Upland and a bit more like her embattled counterpart, Elphaba Thropp. She might not have been Public Enemy No. 1 for everybody, but Grande was social media’s main course at the onset of her Eternal Sunshine era. 

After the turbulent Positions rollout, Grande paused her habit of churning out new full-length in almost yearly fashion and prioritized auditioning for – and eventually filming – Wicked. In July 2023, news broke that Grande and her ex-husband Dalton Gomez had separated at the top of the year and were planning to legally end their two-year marriage. Days later, reports swirled that Grande had begun dating Ethan Slater, her Tony-winning Wicked co-star. Slater, in turn, filed for divorce from Lilly Jay, his wife of five years and mother of their son, less than ten years later. Though Grande and Slater began dating after their respective marriages were over — both divorces were legally finalized in time for the Wicked premiere – the chaotic timeline led social media to unfairly cast Grande as the mean girl homewrecker who’d destroyed a happy family. 

Grande, for her part, kept her lips sealed regarding her romantic life, which made her first musical statement 2024 all the more powerful. On Jan. 12, Grande her first solo single in four years: a sassy, house-rooted kiss-off called “Yes, And?” A direct response to the Internet noising marring her name (“Why do you care so much whose d—k I ride?”), the song brought Grande back to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 – a spot she did visit twice in the time between Positions and Eternal Sunshine, but only as a special remix guest of star collaborator The Weeknd – with the first new No. 1 single of 2024. Culturally, the song had a much softer presence in the lexicon in comparison to past Grande smashes like “Thank U, Next” or “Problem,” but even before its eventual Mariah Carey remix and Grammy nomination (best dance pop recording), “Yes, And?” did what Grande needed it to: effectively shift the conversation away from her personal life and to her music. 

Inspired by her marriage and its dissolution, as well as Michael Gondry’s 2004 Oscar-winning film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Grande’s seventh studio album finds her delivering some of the sharpest and most poignant songwriting of her career. Crafted alongside longtime collaborators Max Martin and Ilya with Grande writing music and lyrics on each track, Eternal Sunshine uses Gondry’s film and the astrological concept of the Saturn Return (the period of a person’s late 20s and early 30s, during which they face real adult challenges for the first time) to help Grande make peace with the perceived failure of love. The record blends pop, R&B, house and slight dashes of wistful acoustic guitar, which beautifully complement the depth of Grande’s post-Wicked voice. 

On March 23, Eternal Sunshine debuted atop the Billboard 200, earning the largest U.S. opening-week total of 2024 at the time (227,000 units) and setting the record for the most-streamed album in a single day in 2024 on Spotify at the time (58.1 million). All 12 chart-eligible songs debuted on the Hot 100, including “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love),” an evocative, dancefloor tearjerker that led the way as the album’s focus track, becoming Grande’s ninth Hot 100 chart-topper. Thanks to Eternal Sunshine, Grande became just the second woman in Billboard history (after Taylor Swift) to simultaneously top the Artist 100, Hot 100, Billboard 200, Hot 100 Songwriters, and Hot 100 Producers charts. 

Two months after the album’s release, Grande performed a private set for MET Gala attendees. In addition to renditions of her biggest hits, she also invited Wicked co-star Cynthia Erivo onstage to cover Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey’s “When You Believe” — a smart bookend to the pair’s matching Super Bowl fits (where they debuted the film’s first trailer) and a peek at the rousing phenomenon the film would become. 

In addition to “We Can’t Be Friends,” which earned a VMAs win for best cinematography, Grande found further single success in “The Boy Is Mine.” After originally peaking at No. 18 after the album’s release, “Boy” returned to the Hot 100 following its Catwoman-inspired music video and Brandy and Monica assisted remix, which earned the ladies a Grammy nod for best pop duo/group performance. Even though Eternal Sunshine is the only 2024 album to launch two Hot 100 No. 1 hits, neither of those songs dominated the culture like other songs that barely sniffed the top 40. There was so much else going on in the pop world that listeners moved on from Eternal Sunshine very quickly, but the album did what Grande need it to do: put the focus back on her work and off her dating life. 

After closing out the summer with a 10^th anniversary re-release of her blockbuster My Everything album, Grande put a few finishing touches on her pop stardom before fully returning her attention to Wicked. She dropped an expanded version of Eternal Sunshine featuring live versions of seven tracks on Oct. 1, with an appearance on Charli XCX’s Brat remix album arriving ten days later. Charli tapped Grande for a reimagining of “Sympathy Is a Knife,” a refreshingly honest look at fame and insecurity cast across a hyperpop soundscape. Ultimately, “Sympathy” became the second-highest charting Hot 100 entry from the Brat era and served as a low-key farewell from Ariana the Pop Star™. “’Cause it’s a knife when you’re finally on top/ ‘Cause logically the next step is they wanna see you fall to the bottom,” they harmonize in the pre-chorus. 

The day after “Sympathy” dropped, Grande hosted one of the best and most popular Saturday Night Live episodes of the year. She already served as musical guest while promoting Eternal Sunshine at the top of this year, but this was the first time she had hosted since 2016. Between her dazzling opening monologue, ace Jennifer Coolidge impression, and the hilarious Antonio and Domingo sketches, Grande’s Oct. 12 SNL episode earned the program its highest ratings in three years and became the most-watched SNL episode ever on Peacock in just two days. With her vocal virtuosity and acting chops – she even successfully played a bad singer in the viral Domingo sketch — at the forefront of the general public’s mind, Grande had perfectly positioned herself for Wicked to be her crowning moment of the year. And “Just Like Magic,” that’s exactly what happened. 

After a whirlwind global press tour that delivered gorgeous looks and memes galore — “Holding space,” anybody? Maybe the constant crying rings a bell? — Wicked, helmed by John M. Chu and also starring Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey and Jeff Goldblum – debuted atop both the domestic ($114 million) and global ($164.2 million) box offices, with the largest opening ever for a film based on a Broadway musical. Wicked, the first of a two-part film adaptation of the 2004 Tony winner, has made over $525 million worldwide, becoming one of the highest-grossing films in 2024. Grande earned rapturous reviews for her performance in the film, with her comedic timing, vocal tenacity and physical commitment to the character’s journey helping her win over the film industry the same way she captivated the music industry. In addition to several honors from critics groups, Grande has emerged as a formidable front-runner in the best supporting actress Oscar race in her first-ever major starring film role, earning nominations at both the Golden Globes and Critic’s Choice Awards for her turn as Glinda. 

Of course, Wicked’s success will always be tied to his music, and Grande also handily upheld that legacy. In December,  Wicked: The Soundtrack (billed to Grande, Erivo and Various Artists) debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, marking the highest debut for a soundtrack of a musical stage-to-film adaptation. The set also entered at the summit of Top Album Sales, Top Soundtracks and Vinyl Albums, and sent seven of its songs to the Hot 100, including Grande’s solo track “Popular” (No. 53)”- -making for a sweet full-circle moment after she interpolated the showtune on “Popular Song” (with MIKA) from her 2013 debut album. 

To end the year with a RIAA Platinum-certified and triple-Grammy-nominated No. 1 album in one hand a film that grossed half a billion dollars in the other – with an Oscar nomination also seemingly right at your fingertips — is wildly impressive. It’s even more extraordinary when you remember that 11 months ago it felt like practically nobody was on Grande’s side. But that’s the eternal challenge of pop stardom, and in 2024, Ariana Grande once again proved that she’s not only more than capable of conquering that challenge – she’s powerful enough to render her haters completely insignificant with a wave of her baby pink, crystal-encrusted wand. 

Check back later today for the reveal of our No. 5 Greatest Pop Star, and stay tuned all week as we roll out our top 10 — leading to the announcement of our top two Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 on Monday, Dec. 23!

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