Greatest Pop Stars of 2025: No. 4, Kendrick Lamar

Our Greatest Pop Stars of 2025 series continues its top 10 with a look at our No. 4 artist, Kendrick Lamar. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard Hip-Hop's Carl Lamarre to talk about Kendrick Lamar's second straight year in our top five Greatest Pop Stars — as his 2024 dominance just kept rolling through the first half of 2025, with Lamar continuing to top the Billboard charts, score Grammy recognition (for both 2025 and 2026) and find his way to the center of popular culture, much to the delight of everyone except for one particular rapper from the North. Find all our Greatest Pop Stars of 2025 essays and podcasts here: https://www.billboard.com/t/greatest-pop-stars-of-2025/ Check out a YouTube playlist of all the best Kendrick Lamar 2025 moments here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwFs58D1XAMZqZWd0paic8g4tbBNX-LKX&si=PoWwOZ2xjvmafs2G And please consider donating to the following causes: Transgender Law Center https://transgenderlawcenter.org/ Trans Lifeline https://translifeline.org/ Destination Tomorrow https://secure.givelively.org/donate/destination-tomorrow-inc Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe https://www.gofundme.com/c/gender-confirmation-surgery-fundraising Also, please consider giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠5Calls.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. https://5calls.org/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices