Pop

For this year’s update of our ongoing Greatest Pop Star by Year project, Billboard is counting down our staff picks for the top 10 pop stars of 2023 all this week. At No. 9, we remember the year in Doja Cat — a consistently challenging and successful pop star who rarely makes it easy for her fans, but continues to build one of the most vital and rewarding careers in 2020s pop.
When she entered 2023 with five Grammy nominations – off the back of a Post Malone collab, a late-stage Planet Her single and a hit from the Elvis soundtrack – Doja Cat knew something the rest of us didn’t quite yet get: We’re not getting rid of her anytime soon. After reaching top 40’s zenith with the frothy Planet Her two years prior (the album peaked at No. 2 and spawned five consecutive top 20 hits), Doja Cat spent 2023 setting fire to that pop-forward version of herself – and she still proved to be one of the year’s most dominant pop stars in the process. 

Before Doja attended the Grammys in a black latex gown that signaled a stark tonal and aesthetic shit from the pink and purple hues of Planet Her, she took on Paris Fashion Week while decked out in head-to-toe red body paint and 30,000 hand-applied Swarovski crystals – an instantly viral moment that reaffirmed Doja’s singular wielding of fashion in her greater artist project and further proved the irrefutability of her star power. The punk and horror influences in her new wardrobe would soon reverberate through the rest of her 2023 – but, then again, those seeds were truly thrown when she shaved her head last summer:  an aesthetic decision that became a key symbol of the Scarlet era. 

Billboard’s Greatest Pop Stars of 2023:Introduction & Honorable Mentions | Rookie of the Year: Peso Pluma | Comeback of the Year: Miley Cyrus | No. 10: Drake

Doja’s first piece of new music came by way of an April “Kill Bill” remix, the year-defining hit single from Grammy-winning “Kiss Me More” duet partner SZA. Her Eminem-nodding guest verse used the song’s boom-bap-infused beat as a catalyst for Doja’s intentional repositioning as a rapper in the “traditional sense.” Her remix helped push “Kill Bill” to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 – although chart credit evaded her in this case – and primed fans for her new era.

Jacob Webster

Jacob Webster

She kicked off the following month at the MET Gala with a purr-fect ensemble inspired by the late Karl Lagerfeld’s pet cat, but that moment quickly gave way to Doja’s first major controversy of the year.  

“[Planet Her] and [Hot Pink] were cash-grabs and yall fell for it,” she wrote on Twitter (now X) on May 9. “Now [I] can go disappear somewhere and touch grass with my loved ones on an island while yall weep for mediocre pop.” Ironically, the hits from those albums helped Doja win the songwriter of the year award she accepted from the BMI Pop Awards that same day. After garnering legions of fans thanks to her pristine pop-rap bops, Doja seemed hellbent on obliterating that; large portions of her fan base were incredibly vocal in their objections to Doja’s remarks, but the tirade didn’t derail her year. 

“Attention,” the first taste of Scarlet, arrived on Jun. 16, earning a warm reception from critics, who lauded Doja’s focus on deft lyricism and her further exploration of those boom-bap influences. Fans greeted the song with a more middling reception; “Attention” spent just three weeks on the Hot 100 and peaked at No. 31. Doja went a bit quiet after “Attention,” but she came back with an even more contentious tirade the following month. “My fans don’t get to name themselves s–t,” she wrote on Threads. “If you call yourself a ‘Kitten’ or f–king ‘Kittenz’ that means you need to get off your phone and get a job and help your parents with the house.” Once again intentionally antagonizing her fanbase, Doja found herself embroiled in a controversy that tested consumers’ patience with her, ultimately culminating in nearly 240,000 lost Instagram followers in under a week. 

Nonetheless, as she proved with her infamous career-threatening chat room controversy back in 2020, Doja Cat has nine lives – and maybe a few extra. The Grammy-winner quickly turned her fortunes around with “Paint the Town Red,” a bouncy Dionne Warwick-sampling track that became both her highest-debuting solo song and the first hip-hop song to top the Hot 100 in 2023. The song grew into a juggernaut on radio – it’s spent seven weeks atop both Pop and Rhythmic Airplay – and became ubiquitous on TikTok without the help of an over-arching dance challenge or trend, further cementing her as star that moves the culture, not one that happens to be buoyed by one of its myriad waves.  “Paint” topped the Hot 100 the same week Doja stole the MTV Video Music Awards with a three-song medley — “Paint,” “Attention,” and horrorcore-leaning promo single “Demons” — that reminded audiences of her performance prowess and gifted consumers the first look at Doja’s vision for Scarlet in a live setting. At the ceremony, “Attention” picked up a Moonperson – Doja’s fifth – for best art direction. 

Although Doja had fully fleshed out her Scarlet alter ego by the VMAs, she was still trying on different titles for the record. (Remember Hellmouth? First of All?) Moreover, the singles were a far cry from the “no more pop” and “French conceptual experimental country/bohemian fusion with the essence of bluegrass” descriptors she (sometimes jokingly) gave to fans. Nonetheless, Scarlet arrived in all of its jazz rap-meets-lo-fi-meets horrorcore glory on Sept. 20. Reviews were favorable, but unimpressive first week numbers (No. 4, 72,000 units earned) signaled that Doja couldn’t quite translate the success of “Paint the Town Red” to its parent LP. Fans were still showing up for her, but they didn’t quite love what she was dishing out, some of which included sporting an ill-received t-shirt featuring alt-right comedian Sam Hyde. 

As she did with Planet Her, Doja seems to be playing the long game with Scarlet. Her Ice Spice and Doechii-assisted headlining arena tour has been trekking across the U.S., and “Agora Hills,” an instant Scarlet standout – is already growing into the album’s second major hit, currently sitting at No. 24 on the Hot 100. With Scarlet, which ended 2023 as one of the Billboard staff’s 10 favorite albums of the year, Doja challenged both her fans and pop music at large more than any of her contemporaries. That fearlessness didn’t always pay off, but it did always keep her at the forefront of the conversation –  further cementing her as arguably the most consistent pop star of the 2020s, and one of only four artists to appear on all three Greatest Pop Star top 10 rankings Billboard has done this decade.

For this year’s update of our ongoing Greatest Pop Star by Year project, Billboard is counting down our staff picks for the top 10 pop stars of 2023 all next week. At No. 10, we remember the year in Drake — a veteran superstar whose current work longtime fans are increasingly divided over, but who can still always just point to the scoreboard for proof of his rap and pop supremacy.
The turn of the year was quiet for Drake, by the prolific megastar’s standards— after dropping his eighth studio album Her Loss at the top of November, he sat back and watched the album top the charts— but by December, the hype was dwindling. Only three songs remained in the Hot 100 by December 31: “Rich Flex,” “Spin Bout U,” and “Circo Loco,” with the highest placing at No. 20. The only things that Drake had left on his agenda for the year were two highly-anticipated sold out shows at the Apollo Theater. A week before they were slated to take place in November, Migos rapper Takeoff tragically passed away, and production issues set the performances back further. Perhaps it was appropriate that the rap game was silent.

Billboard’s Greatest Pop Stars of 2023:Introduction & Honorable Mentions | Rookie of the Year: Peso Pluma | Comeback of the Year: Miley Cyrus 

Drake started 2023 on a high note: he returned to the stage at the Apollo, delighting fans with a career-spanning mix of his biggest hits and deep cuts and giving fans a taste of what was to come. Shortly after, he announced the It’s All a Blur tour with 21 Savage in March, with 29 shows scheduled across the U.S. and Canada. He quickly capitalized upon the excitement by expanding his tour with an additional 15 shows – and for a moment, everything surrounding Drake was good, clean fun. In true Drake style, that did not last for long. 

Prince Williams/Wireimage

Courtesy OVO/Republic Records

One of Drake’s greatest star strengths is his ability to create headline-worthy moments that are controversial, but not career-jeopardizingly damning. He once again stirred the pot in his on-and-off relationship with Kanye West with the single “Search & Rescue” by including audio of Kim Kardashian talking about her former husband. This left fans wondering if the soundbite was just fitting of the track’s theme, or if it was a deeper dig at Drake’s frenemy. Regardless of intent, discussion of the potential beef helped propel the track to a No. 2 debut on the Hot 100.

Interestingly, though, the biggest controversy the superstar had around this time didn’t even involve music: seemingly out of nowhere, Drake appeared on Bobbi Althoff’s The Really Good Podcast, giving fans a rare sit down with the rapper that showcased his humor while skyrocketing Althoff to fame. The general population was not particularly familiar with Althoff – who transitioned from making content for moms on TikTok to rebranding with a new podcast and a new aloof, deadpan persona in 2021 – so, when Drake sat down with her, the intentionally awkward conversation broke the internet. Should Drake have given such a platform to such an amateur talent who was unfamiliar with hip-hop? Was Bobbi’s interview insulting? The internet debated for months following the episode, further fueled by the fact that the full video was later taken down from Althoff’s channel.

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Summer was when things started to pick up for Drake in 2023: a string of buzzy guest appearances and collaborations kept fans on the hook: “Who Told You” with J Hus, “On the Radar Freestyle” with Central Cee, “Oh U Went” with Young Thug, and “Meltdown” with Travis Scott each had their moments. Despite the hype surrounding each of these releases, none of them took off quite like the rapper’s previous work. Instead, Drake found success in entertaining his audience with the It’s All a Blur Tour, earning $147.5 million for the year, according to numbers reported to Billboard Box Score.

The It’s All a Blur tour was a massive success beyond numbers: It further proved that Drake remains an undeniable pop star. Each show generated new viral moments, both positive and negative. Some fans complained that Drake was ranting for too long or forgetting his own lyrics, but the tour was widely praised overall. Fans were surprised by the visuals, including a drone-powered flying sperm, and Drake personally surprising audience members with luxury gifts including $50,000 and an Hermès Birkin bag. Attendees of the tour were even given the chance to grab a pair of NOCTA Nike Hot Step Air Terras, courtesy of Drake’s partnership with Shopify, Drake Related. It seemed as if Drake had an infinite number of tricks up his sleeve— and then came his next album, For All The Dogs. 

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Pressure was high for Drake to release a strong album. After experiencing a dip in both fan enthusiasm and chart performance with Honestly, Nevermind, and regaining his footing with Her Loss, the Toronto rapper came back with a lot to prove on Dogs. Its lead single, “Slime You Out” featuring SZA, excited fans due to the artists’ shared history. The superstar pairing and exchange of jabs on the track helped it soar to No. 1 on the Hot 100. But ultimately, fans found the track disappointing — as did legendary actress Halle Berry, who was featured in the cover art without her approval, and co-star SZA, who claims her best vocals were not incorporated. It quickly fell down the chart. Still, fans were excited to hear Drake’s latest body of work, which was first promised to drop a week after. However, after debating whether he should cancel his final tour dates to finish the album, Drake pushed back the release from Sept. 22 to Oct. 6.

Once released, For All The Dogs proved that Drake remains commercially bulletproof. Critics poked holes in the 23-track release, saying that it was too long, that the lyrics were too corny and surface level and that Drake’s sentiments felt glaringly misogynistic. Still, the album debuted at No. 1, tying Michael Jackson’s record for solo males on the Billboard Hot 100 with J. Cole team-up “First Person Shooter.” The varied offering with a stacked list of featured artists had several strong moments, mainly tied to collaborations with Cole, Yeat and Sexyy Red, but fans continue to cite Drake’s older works as his prime. One featured artist was unexpected and refreshing for everyone: the incorporation of Adonis, Drake’s 6-year-old son, now a burgeoning visual artist. Adonis’ drawing was used as the cover artwork for Dogs, and that drawing was further integrated into the Dogs era via inclusion in the music video for “8am in Charlotte.” 

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Following the release of Dogs, Drake’s moves were unpredictable. He said that he would be taking a hiatus to focus on his health – a claim that made sense as it came on the heels of Drake revealing that he suffered from stomach issues on tour, on top of the many previous years of nonstop grinding. The world was ready to give Drake a break. But then he dropped Adonis’ “My Man Freestyle,” and just a few weeks after that, he dropped the video for “First Person Shooter,” an elaborate production laden with pop culture references to things like the Spider-Man meme and the famous photo of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi playing chess. 

But the biggest curveball of all came on Nov. 17: Drake dropped the surprise Scary Hours Edition reissue of For All the Dogs, adding six new songs to the tracklist, and dates for a 2024 U.S. run titled the It’s All a Blur Tour – Big as the What? with support from J. Cole. In hindsight, Drake might have foretold this change of plans on new Scary Hours track “Stories About My Brother,” as he described a return: “the storm before the calm, we’ll get to the vacation later.”

Once again, Drake has reminded us to expect the unexpected – it’s what’s made him omnipresent in both 2023 and in our lives for the past decade and a half, for better or worse. With a tour on the horizon, we’re not too likely to stop hearing from the 6 God in 2024, either.