Which Pop Stars Won 2025's First Half? Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé, Benson Boone & More

It's midyear season at Billboard, so it's time for us to look back at the year in pop stardom so far -- by revisiting our Greatest Pop Stars fantasy draft from January. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined once again by Billboard staffers Kyle Denis, Meghan Mahar and Jason Lipshutz to go over how each of our pop star fantasy teams has done so far, while also sizing up the Greatest Pop Star of 2025 race in general, and predicting some of the artists who aren't in the discussion yet but still might be by year's end. Greatest Pop Stars Fantasy Draft Episode: https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/greatest-pop-stars-2025-fantasy-draft-podcast-1235877072/ Billboard's 50 Best Albums of 2025 So Far: https://www.billboard.com/lists/best-albums-2025-so-far Billboard's 50 Best Songs of 2025 So Far: https://www.billboard.com/lists/best-songs-2025-so-far And if you enjoy the pod, please consider donating to the following causes: Transgender Law Center https://transgenderlawcenter.org/ Trans Lifeline https://translifeline.org/ 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices