Pop
Taylor Swift showed up to Saturday’s Chiefs-Texans game in a red, faux fur coat, looking how Penny Lane might’ve if she’d had a cozy Red era. The pop star was photographed on Dec. 21 arriving at Arrowhead Stadium, where boyfriend Travis Kelce’s team, the Kansas City Chiefs, were playing the Houston Texans. A rich, red […]
This week on the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, we have begun unveiling the top 10 of our Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 list — and even though we’re still a few days away from the unveiling of our top two (coming up this Monday, Dec. 3), we’re already well in the thick of artists who were given strong consideration for the top spot.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
On our latest episode, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard Pride editor Stephen Daw and staff writer Hannah Dailey to talk about our Nos. 6 through 3 artists, which we unveiled Wednesday and Thursday (Dec. 18-19) this week. We start at No. 6 with Ariana Grande, an all-century pop star whose 2024 got off to a great start, was in danger of being overshadowed by an impossibly packed summer, and now is ending even stronger than it began. We discuss our feelings about Eternal Sunshine and Wicked and debate how long the wait is likely to actually be until we next get new music from her.
Then, at No. 5 (we remember the Year of Charli XCX (25:30), a pop star whose brilliance seemed destined to be underappreciated in her own time, but which everyone seemed to finally realize at once in 2024. We share our memories of the impossible highs of Brat Summer, and what it was about this era of Charli’s — and how it kept expanding and evolving over those months — that made her truly unignorable in the larger pop culture. We also offer takes on what the true greatest artistic achievement of her year was, and play a fun guessing game related to the Brat and It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat remix album.
Trending on Billboard
After that, at No. 4, it’s Chappell Roan (1:05:30), an absolute supernova of a 2024 pop star, who emerged from cult hero-dom to scorch her way through the mainstream this year. We talk about what it means for pop stardom in general in 2024 that someone once believed to be primarily be a niche artist like Roan could unquestionably become one of the biggest stars in the world, and we marvel at how she was able to dominate the year while only releasing one new song. We also look at what the next year or two could look like for Roan as she acclimates to her insane new life circumstances and (hopefully) prepares for a globe-conquering second album.
Finally, at No. 3 (1:42:30), it’s Taylor Swift, already one of the greatest pop stars of all time. We discuss the cases for whether she’s too high on this list, too low or just right. We also look back at the legacies of her charts-conquering The Tortured Poets Department and her globe-conquering Eras Tour, and wonder what the hell she could possibly do next to try to follow all of it up. (Don’t worry, we have ideas.)
Check it all out above, and be sure to come back on Monday (Dec. 23) as we reveal our brutally difficult decision for the top two Greatest Pop Stars of 2024.
‘Tis the season to be a little petty. Kelly Clarkson shared her official album visualizer for her 2021 holiday project, When Christmas Comes Around… Again on Wednesday (Dec. 18), and the cozy fireplace display in the clip features a lineup for four stockings. Clarkson and her two children, River Rose and Remington Alexander, all have […]
Selena Gomez is living her dream life! After the “Rare” singer announced her engagement to music producer Benny Blanco, the star took to her Instagram Stories on Thursday (Dec. 19) to share a video of her sparkling marquise-cut diamond engagement ring, complete with a pavé band. “Sorry last post,” she wrote over the clip. “I’ve […]
It’s as predictable as the crazed sprint to the mall for that last clutch of gifts on Dec. 23. The annual Billboard chart showdown between the two undisputed queens of Christmas music: Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee.
There a dozens of holiday classics, new and old, to choose from at this time of year, from Wham!’s “Last Christmas” to Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” and Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas.” But when it comes to the top spot, there are really only two songs that keep jostling for the No. 1 slot on the Hot 100 at this most festive time of year: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
Since you’ll be hearing a lot of those songs in the next week, let’s look at how we got to this annual tradition.
Lee released her song in 1958 when she was just 14 years old, with the track debuting on the Hot 100 singles chart on Dec. 12, 1960, originally peaking at No. 14 two weeks later, only to re-enter the Hot 100 after several decades during the 2013-2014 holiday season. “Rockin’” didn’t make it into the top 10 until 2018-2019 frame, then spent nine weeks at No. 2 on the singles tally in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 .
What kept the 80-year-old singer out of the top spot? Carey, of course.
“All I Want” — which appeared on Carey’s debut Christmas album, 1994’s Merry Christmas — first hit the Billboard charts in 1994, but didn’t crack the top 10 on the Hot 100 until December 2017. It finally reached the No. 1 spot in 2019 and has absolutely dominated every holiday season since.
Well, except for 2023, when Lee’s “Rockin’” finally shot to No. 1 on the Hot 100, spending three weeks at the apex of the chart, while Carey’s song led for two weeks that year, marking just the third holiday song ever to reach the top of the chart; the other one is “The Chipmunk Song” by the Chipmunks with David Seville, which spent four weeks at No. 1 in December 1958.
So in an era when dozens of new Christmas albums and songs flood the zone in search of classic standing, what explains the strength of Carey and Lee’s anthems? The rise of streaming and curated holiday playlists, as well as strong radio airplay and sales has helped both tracks become annual staples. It also helps that both singers have leaned into the virality of their hits, with Carey filming her popular “it’s time” teaser clips every year and Lee filming a music video for hers last year as well as joining TikTok to promote it.
No matter which one is your favorite, enjoy the season and keep rockin’ around the Christmas tree!
Watch Billboard Explains: Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee’s Battle for the Christmas Throne in the video above.
After the video, catch up on more Billboard Explains videos and learn about Peso Pluma and the Mexican music boom, the role record labels play, origins of hip-hop, how Beyoncé arrived at Renaissance, the evolution of girl groups, BBMAs, NFTs, SXSW, the magic of boy bands, American Music Awards, the Billboard Latin Music Awards, the Hot 100 chart, how R&B/hip-hop became the biggest genre in the U.S., how festivals book their lineups, Billie Eilish’s formula for success, the history of rap battles, nonbinary awareness in music, the Billboard Music Awards, the Free Britney movement, rise of K-pop in the U.S., why Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums, the boom of hit all-female collaborations, how Grammy nominees and winners are chosen, why songwriters are selling their publishing catalogs, how the Super Bowl halftime show is booked and more.
Sabrina Carpenter, fresh off the North American leg of her first-ever arena tour, is now accustomed to playing 20,000-seat concert halls. But at NPR’s offices in Washington, D.C., the short and sweet pop star finally found a venue that’s just her size. On a Monday in early December, Billboard was on hand to watch Carpenter […]
Ben Stiller would drive all night for SZA. In fact, in the new visual for the singer’s track “Drive,” which dropped on Friday morning (Dec. 20), the Nutcrackers star looks entranced as he lip-synchs along to the song while barreling down a dark road in his SUV.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
In the Bradley J. Calder-directed clip, Stiller enthusiastically sings the moody ballad’s lyrics about hitting the road to clear your head while trying to not get too in your head about everything that’s going on. “I been up ’til up midnight, drivin’ to nowhere/ Bumpin’ a slow song, can’t get my head clear/ I been up ’til sunrise, headed to nowhere/ Hopin’ that someone’s missin’ me somewhere,” SZA sings over gently plucked acoustic guitar.
After worrying that she’s balled so hard she’s hit her peak, SZA brags about all the exes who still want to hit her up and how she has no time to waste on haters. And while he’s hitting those lines, Stiller closes his eyes and begins to drift to sleep before waking up with a renewed energy that inspires him to lean out of the window and rip doughnuts in the middle of the street. Eagle-eyed viewers noticed that the midnight ghost ride is similar to a lip-synching cameo Stiller had in Jack Johnson’s “Taylor” video in 2003 — only this time around, the actor’s hands are wrapped around a steering wheel instead of a guitar.
Trending on Billboard
Things then get super weird as Stiller drives off and SZA pops up in the woods dressed as a sexy alien insect as the second half of the song turns into a slow-grind R&B jam and the singer crawls her way across the marsh. The costume is similar to one in the teased artwork for SZA’s long-awaited deluxe edition of her blockbuster SOS album, Lana, which is due out on Friday, as well as her Hot Ones look from September.
SZA first revealed the Lana title during a show in New York in September 2023, during which she told the audience that the deluxe version of SOS would be like “a whole ‘nother album … It’s seven to 10 songs, and it’ll be out this fall.” Then in a November British Vogue interview, she described Lana and the SOS deluxe as two entirely different albums.
But then earlier this month, SZA confirmed that Lana is the title of the SOS deluxe album, and teased the tracklist. SOS debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums charts following its 2022 release, shattering the record for the biggest streaming week for an R&B album by a woman at the time with 404.6 million official on-demand streams for the album’s songs, according to Luminate.
SZA will embark on the Grand National stadium tour with Kendrick Lamar beginning in April.
Watch the “Drive” video above.
12/20/2024
Modern holiday chestnuts by veterans of the long-running TV talent competition.
12/20/2024
Charli XCX has invited Troye Sivan to Sweat with her some more. The Brat star opened the door for a one-time re-boot of her 2024 sold-out Sweat tour with Sivan on Thursday (Dec. 19) when she invited the “Rush” singer to join her on stage again next year. “ok so i know it’s already been […]
Katy Perry left an early gift under Katy Cats’ trees on Friday morning (Dec. 2) when she dropped a surprise deluxe edition of her 143 album, re-dubbed 1432. Even better, if features the previously unreleased tune “OK,” a Dr. Luke-produced mid-tempo pop bubbler on which Perry promises to stick with you, no matter what. Explore […]