State Champ Radio Podcasts
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Trending on Billboard As expected, it was a total eclipse of Taylor Swift on the charts and in the conversation for October — with the pop ultrasupermegastar topping both the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100 for essentially the entire month with her The Life of a Showgirl and its lead single “The Fate of […]
Trending on Billboard It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Yes, we officially have the all-clear from Mariah Carey to start celebrating the Christmas season — as messaged in her new Sephora commercial — but it’s a big week for music lovers for another reason: 2026 Grammy nominations will be announced on Friday. Sabrina […]
For over two decades, Keith Caulfield has been an integral part of the Billboard charts team, tabulating which singles and albums are the most popular in the United States. To be more specific, Caulfield — managing director of charts and data operations — looks after the Billboard 200, the standard bearer for an album’s performance […]
Trending on Billboard D’Angelo had already proven a transformative R&B figure as a 21-year-old with his 1995 debut LP Brown Sugar, scoring hits and winning awards and growing the movement that would ultimately be known as neo-soul. And when his sophomore album Voodoo arrived in 2000, it topped the Billboard 200 — helped by the […]
Trending on Billboard If there were a pop version of the Avengers, we think Ariana Grande‘s trio of early mentors would all be included. On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are chatting about Ari kicking off the Wicked: For Good press tour by sitting down with Evan Ross Katz on his […]
Trending on Billboard Justin Vernon was a near-immediate critical sensation upon his late-’00s emergence with his first album as Bon Iver, the alt-folk opus For Emma, Forever Ago. With his unique falsetto, emotional delivery and irresistible backstory — retreating to a cabin in the woods following a pair of personal and professional breakups to record […]
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As Taylor Swift sang on last year’s Tortured Poets Department: “We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.” Maybe the pop singer/songwriter just needs his next era to get even bigger than he already is (the man has four Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits, including the 12-week No. 1 “See You Again” with Wiz Khalifa, after all). And that next era is on the horizon, with the announcement of his fourth studio album Whatever’s Clever!, due in March, and the release of the lead single “Changes” last week.
Over the past month, Puth has been testing out some of his new material during a 16-show residency across Blue Note New York (Sept. 25-28) and Blue Note Los Angeles (Oct. 16-19), bringing jazzy reimaginings of some of his biggest hits to the legendary jazz club stage. Billboard was inside the final Los Angeles concert over the weekend, and on the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie is telling Keith all about seeing Puth play at such an intimate venue.
Katie was mostly struck by what a good fit the venue was for Charlie and his catalog, as “Professor Puth” (known for sharing his music education with the TikTok audience) led an incredibly talented band of instrumentalists and backup singers through a masterclass of live pop. And as for the new songs — we heard “Beat Yourself Up” and “Changes” from the upcoming album on Sunday night — the crowd was just as into the brand-new tunes as they were into “Attention,” “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” “How Long” and, of course, “See You Again.” It seems that this new Dad Rock vibe Puth is leaning into (appropriately, the “Changes” music video also doubled as a pregnancy announcement for him and his wife Brooke) is going to be a perfect match.
Listen to the full conversation here:
And speaking of Taylor Swift… also on the show, we’ve got chart news about how Swift continues to hold down the No. 1 spots on both the Billboard 200 albums and Billboard Hot 100 songs charts with The Life of a Showgirl and lead single “The Fate of Ophelia,” while Olivia Dean makes gains on the Billboard 200 with The Art of Loving.
The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)
At this point, we should be conditioned to expect pop stars to behave in a controversial manner. And yet, when Sabrina Carpenter released the cover for her upcoming Man’s Best Friend album, social media was up in arms about the provocative artwork, which features the singer/songwriter on all fours with her hair being grabbed by […]
Last week (June 11), the brilliant writer, producer, composer and singer Brian Wilson died at age 82. Wilson leaves behind a singular catalog of pop and rock music, which is of course headlined by his work in the ’60s and ’70s with The Beach Boys, alongside his brothers Carl and Dennis, cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine. The Beach Boys cruised to pop stardom from 1963 to 1965 with a string of smash hits about surfing, cars and girls that grew increasingly complex as Brian rapidly developed as a songwriter and studio wizard. In 1966, all the group’s artistic ambitions were realized, with perhaps both the Boys’ most beloved album and most beloved single — though it all came at a tremendous cost to Wilson, and to the band’s long-term future.
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On this week’s Vintage Pop Stardom episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard executive digital director, west coast Katie Atkinson, to talk about the greatest year by the ultimate west coast pop band. We talk about everything that led up to the Beach Boys’ singular legacy year in 1966 — which ultimately resulted in the LP masterwork Pet Sounds and the unanimously acclaimed pop smash “Good Vibrations” — as well as why the group was ultimately unable to reach those commercial or artistic heights again.
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And of course, along the way, we ask all the big questions about the Beach Boys’ greatest (and in many ways last) year in the sun: Why did Brian Wilson enlist an ad man he barely knew as his primary collaborator on Pet Sounds (and why did that guy end up hating working with him so much)? Is “Sloop John B.” secretly the album’s perfect thematic centerpiece? Is “Good Vibrations” really more head than it is heart? Would 1966 Brian have dealt with f–kboy or industry plant allegations in 2025? And of course: Is this the greatest year in pop music that any American band has ever had?
Check it out above — along with a YouTube playlist of some of the most important moments from The Beach Boys’ 1966, 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 giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org — and if you’re in the D.C. area this weekend (May 30-31), definitely check out Liberation Weekend, a music festival supporting trans rights with an incredible lineup of trans artists and allies.
John Mayer knows exactly what you think about his high-profile dating history, and he’s ready to prove you wrong.
During a SiriusXM-presented live recording of SmartLess — the popular podcast hosted by actors and friends Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes — at Hollywood’s Avalon nightclub on Thursday night, the singer/songwriter served as the night’s “mystery guest” and was an open book about his love life, confirming that he’s currently single and “a catch.”
“I’m older now,” he said. “It’s been a very long time since I had my own situation. I stay inside the house. Aren’t I a good boy, America? I’m not dating anybody!”
After Mayer said he’s a big fan of the “skip the wait” upgrade on the dating app Raya (shoot your shot, ladies), Bateman asked whether the musician is looking for something different now than he was 10 years ago. “Let me ask you: What’s right and what’s wrong for a girlfriend vs. a wife vs. somebody that you might have a child with?” Bateman asked.
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“They’re one in the same,” Mayer said. “I would not date someone if it didn’t have the upward mobility of becoming a marriage.”
You can watch a preview clip of the conversation here:
Elsewhere in the conversation, Mayer said the biggest lesson he’s learned in relationships over the years is to not hide behind sarcasm and to leave himself open to potential pain.
“I think that younger people need to get a head start on being more vulnerable,” the 47-year-old artist told the trio of hosts. “Being sarcastically invulnerable and apathetic is a really good healing mechanism to get over the past breakup. … There’s a fear that there’s a generation of … people, men and women, who have decided to come into relationships in a very inflexible, sarcastic [headspace]. Vulnerability is the sh–. Leave yourself so vulnerable that you could die if someone said the wrong thing to you, and just die 1,000 times.”
Mayer has had a number of high-profile relationships over the years, including with Katy Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Simpson and Taylor Swift.
A lot of topics were covered during the live podcast recording, including Mayer’s experience trying his hand at stand-up comedy, his innate obsession with correct grammar and punctuation, and what musicians he would put in his dream band, dead or alive. “Alive,” Mayer deadpanned, before (literally) singing the praises of Eddie Vedder with a little impromptu take on Pearl Jam’s “Daughter.” He also offered up a medley of three of his songs: “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room,” followed by Hayes’ personal favorite “All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye,” and finally a sing-along of his breakthrough hit “No Such Thing.”
The full episode will premiere July 24 on SiriusXM Stars (channel 109) and then become available on demand in the SiriusXM app and to SiriusXM Podcasts+ subscribers in Apple Podcasts. On July 31, it will be released widely wherever podcasts are available.
Mayer has his own SiriusXM station, Life With John Mayer, which debuted in November 2023 and airs on channel 14.
