Greatest Pop Stars Podcast
This week, Billboard is publishing a series of lists and articles celebrating the music of 20 years ago. Our 2005 Week continues here a discussion of Ciara’s dominant 2005, a year full of huge, beloved hits that set the tone for mid-’00s pop music, but proved pretty hard for the breakout artist to later match.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
After hitting the mainsteram in late 2004, with her debut album Goodies and its Billboard Hot 100-topping title track, Ciara stayed winning all throughout 2005. From peaking at No. 2 on the Hot 100 with the Missy Elliott-assisted “1, 2 Step” that January through to matching that success with her Ludacris-featuring spring smash “Oh!” to returning the favor to Missy on the latter’s smash “Lose Control” and teaming up with her real-life paramour Bow Wow on “Like You,” Ciara ended 2005 with five consecutive top five hits, and four top 30 entries on the year-end Hot 100. It was an incredible year, one that played a huge part in defining that era in pop — though, perhaps understandably, Ciara never equaled it again.
In this week’s Vintage Pop Stardom episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by former Billboard writer and current freelance journalist (and Nothin’ But North Texas radio host) Natalie Weiner to officially kick off our 2005 week with a deep dive into The First Lady of Crunk & B’s biggest year. We start at the beginning of the Goodies era, when Ciara emerged as the ideal new pop star for a top 40 world that had become increasingly rooted in hip-hop and R&B, and run through her awesome streak of still-beloved smashes, and some of the collaborators who helped make her year what it was.
Trending on Billboard
And of course, along the way, we ask all the big questions about Ciara’s All-Star rookie season: What made her such a can’t-miss pop star for that moment in time? How weird was it that she was constantly cast as the one woman surrounded by a bunch of dudes? Did it hurt her in the long-term that she was never able to be a solo headliner on any of her early singles? How did Carmelo Anthony end up getting cast in the video for Goodies‘ lone flop single? And perhaps most importantly: Why don’t we ever seem to get pop star years as fun and simple as Ciara’s 2005 anymore?
Check it out above — along with a YouTube playlist of some of the most important moments from Ciara’s 2005, all of which are discussed in the podcast — 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!
And as we say in every one of these GPS podcast posts — if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights:
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.
Green Day entered 2005 at the center of popular music for the second time in its career — but the first time in a decade. The legendary pop-punk trio had taken over rock music and MTV from 1994-95 with its RIAA diamond-certified debut album Dookie, and had fortified their status as alt-rock fixtures in the […]
Though March might not have been as packed a month of pop stardom as February, we still ended the month with a whole lot to talk about: big comeback albums, long-anticipated singles (and music videos), award-show moments and performances, and a couple leftover pop stars from 2024 who just refuse to let up in their […]
Back in 2017, Selena Gomez was coming off her greatest commercial hot streak, having just released 2015’s Billboard 200-topping Revival — which scored a trio of smash pop singles — and keeping her momentum going with a run of successful collabs. Then, she released “Bad Liar,” the most sophisticated, ambitious and generally surprising single of her career to that point, co-written alongside a pair of hitmakers with whom she had an obvious connection. The song was rapturously received by pop fans and critics alike, but the commercial response to it was distinctly muted — seemingly leaving Gomez unsure of what to do next.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
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 executive director of music, Jason Lipshutz, to talk about one of the most fascinating pop songs of the last decade. We look at why the song worked in so many unlikely ways, why it won over so many listeners who’d previously disregarded Gomez but still couldn’t find its footing at radio or streaming — and whether or not the song, which felt like a major turning point in Selena Gomez’s career upon its release, actually ended up being such a pivotal release for her.
Trending on Billboard
Along the way, of course, we ask all the important questions about Selena Gomez and “Bad Liar”: Why was lifting the bassline from a 1977 Talking Heads song the key to this 2017 pop single? What made Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter such perfect collaborators for Gomez at this point in her career? Why does she love playing multiple characters in the same project so much? Was there really nothing subtle about the Battle of Troy? Can we hear any of “Bad Liar” in Gomez’s new I Said I Love You First album, recorded with longtime producer (and now-fiancé) Benny Blanco? And perhaps most importantly: Would we still name “Bad Liar” the best song of 2017?
Check out our discussion above, 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!
And if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights. (Selena would want you to!)
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.
As 1995 began, Madonna was still an A-plus-list superstar and one of the most famous people in the world — but she was no longer at the absolute center of pop music. A half decade of increasingly controversial (though often brilliant) albums, singles, videos, movies and appearances had left the public divided and unsure about the Queen of Pop’s standing, while the dance-pop she’d conquered the world with in the ’80s had fallen out of fashion in a top 40 landscape dominated by alt-rock, hip-hop and R&B. But ’95 saw her reclaim her radio supremacy, while still taking huge artistic chances and pivoting to a more mature cross-platform star persona — though hardly all at the same time.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
In this week’s Vintage Pop Stardom episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Keith Caulfield, Billboard‘s Managing Director of Charts & Data Operations (and co-host of the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, and longtime M disciple) to express ourselves and not repress ourselves about Madonna’s incredibly fascinating 1995. We pick up mid-Bedtime Stories rollout with Madonna, as she improbably scores the biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit of her entire storied career, and we make it through her LP’s experimental final two singles (and their rather notable music videos), through getting cast in the film role of a lifetime, through the ’95 Video Music Awards, and finally end with her Something to Remember era, while she preps the world for a year of Oscar campaigning.
Trending on Billboard
In the meantime, we brace the most important questions about La M as she reached the midpoint of her 1990s: Which super-cool-and-acclaimed European act made for better Madonna collaborators, Björk or Massive Attack? Why does nobody remember that “Take a Bow” was her longest-running No. 1? Should “Human Nature” have been a bigger hit? Was Evita worth shutting down her mid-’90s touring plans for? Did she really deserve a Razzie for her Four Rooms appearance? And of course: How did she fare in her infamous interview showdown with Courtney Love following the ’95 VMAs?
Check it out above — along with a YouTube playlist of some of the most important moments from Madonna’s 1995, all of which are discussed in the podcast — 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!
And if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights. (Madonna would want you to!)
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.
It’s been a long lead-up to Lady Gaga‘s new album Mayhem. Aside from the collaborative Love for Sale LP with Tony Bennett and the Joker: Folie a Deux-accompanying Harlequin set — both of which mostly consisted of covers of pop standards — Mayhem is Gaga’s first official album in nearly half a decade, since the […]
Though February is the shortest month of the year, it didn’t feel that way from a pop stardom perspective in 2025. Within 28 days, we got all kinds of major pop events — the Grammys, the Super Bowl, multiple music-heavy celebrations of Saturday Night Live‘s 50th anniversary — as well as several major new releases […]
In 2025, artists from the indie and pop worlds collaborate and co-mingle regularly enough that it’s almost hard to remember a time when it was ever really that novel. But earlier this century, indie and pop were still isolated enough that in 2009, when Solange took her sister Beyoncé and Bey’s husband Jay-Z to a […]
This Valentine’s Day, Drake released his first new album since before his 2024 feud with Kendrick Lamar changed everything about his career outlook and overall narrative — the PartyNextDoor full-length team-up $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. While the final verdict on the album and what it might (or might not) do for Drake’s overall trajectory […]
After taking over Genesis frontman duties for the gone-solo Peter Gabriel in the mid-’70s, drummer-singer Phil Collins had gradually built up his popularity, his industry renown and his pop songwriting prowess over the course of a decade. He’d become a solo star after breaking off from his group in the early-’80s, but continued to gather momentum with the band as well, and also emerged as a go-to collaborator for much of the era’s pop and rock aristocracy. By 1985, it would all come together in one year that saw Collins absolutely flood the zone with hit singles, big collaborations, bigger performances, headline-capturing pop culture moments and even an acting turn on TV’s hottest primetime drama.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
On this Vintage Pop Stardom episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, we look back at Collins’ singular 1985, and examine how an unassuming, plain-looking drummer became one of the most ubiquitous pop stars of the MTV generation. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Chris Molanphy of Slate and the Hit Parade podcast to talk all things Phil Collins, as Molanphy shares his memories of becoming a devout (if occasionally slightly abashed) Phil fan as a teen, and Unterberger explains how an unofficial New York-celebrated holiday — one coming up very soon on the calendar — expanded his own love for Phil as a young adult.
Trending on Billboard
We then dive all the way into the deep end on Collins’ 1985, which started with hits, peaked with hits and ended with even more hits — but in between, also included a gig on Miami Vice as Phil the Shill, appearances on both coasts’ Live Aid festivities (including with a quasi-reunited Led Zeppelin), and an Oscars snub so galling it still rankles the nice-guy pop star to this day. And of course, we do get into those hits, including the agony and the ecstasy of “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” the possibly purloined groove and confusing (in more ways than one) title of “Sussudio,” and the underappreciated knife-in-the-gut divorce rock of “Separate Lives.” We end with the unlikely question: Was Phil Collins actually the Greatest Pop Star of 1985?
Check it out above — along with a YouTube playlist of some of the most memorable moments of Phil’s 1985, all of which are discussed in the podcast — 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!
And if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights:
Transgender Law Center
Trans Lifeline
Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe
The Trevor Project