Billboard’s Greatest Pop Stars of 2023: Introduction & Honorable Mentions (Staff List)

In 2020, Billboard‘s workers revealed its picks for the best pop star of yearly courting again to 1981 (the primary 12 months of MTV, primarily the delivery of the trendy pop period), with essays making the case for every as the largest, brightest and most vital star of their photo voltaic system that calendar 12 months. After including BTS as the best pop star for 2020, we determined to broaden the mission a bit of bit. For the final two years, we’ve counted down our picks for the 10 biggest pop stars of the 12 months, with full essays for everybody from No. 10 (Nicki Minaj final 12 months) to No. 1 (Unhealthy Bunny final 12 months), in addition to bonus write-ups for our picks for Rookie and Comeback of the 12 months, and even 10 close-but-not-quite honorable mentions.

And now, it’s about time for our 2023 rankings. We’ll be counting down our high 10 over the course of subsequent week, with our high two being revealed on Friday (Dec. 15). However first, we’ve obtained our 10 honorable mentions for this 12 months — in addition to our rookie and comeback artists of the 12 months, to be unveiled later at this time.

First, although, our compulsory reminder that in contrast to with our 12 months-Finish Charts, these Best Pop Stars aren’t mathematically decided by stats like chart place, streams or gross sales numbers. They play an enormous half in our ultimate rankings, in fact — however so do issues like music movies, stay performances and social media presence, and extra intangible elements like cultural significance, trade affect and total omnipresence. (And we measure this over your entire 2023 calendar, so in the event you had been solely heard from originally or finish of the 12 months — or solely had one massive track or second — that’s gonna harm your efficiency right here as properly.)

You’ll most likely get the grasp of what we imply. Learn on beneath for our best-of-the-rest picks in alphabetical order, and apologies to all of the veteran hitmakers and rising phenoms whose presence we couldn’t make room for with simply 10 honorable point out spots — it was an enormous 12 months for pop stars new and outdated, and even a high 50 we might’ve most likely ended up leaving somebody out.

Their 12 months in Pop: All of us love a comeback, don’t we? To bookmark his return residence from a six-month jail stint following his Alford plea to a single cost of racketeering within the higher YSL RICO case, Gunna went again to fundamentals with high 50 hit “Bread & Butter.” That track was featured on Gunna’s acclaimed 2023 album A Reward & A Curse, which discovered the rapper going through his controversies head-on and making a fifth consecutive journey to the Billboard 200’s high 5 (No. 3). Summer time smash “Fukumean” quickly adopted, changing into Gunna’s highest-peaking unaccompanied entry on the Billboard Scorching 100 (No. 4), together with minor hits “Again At It,” “Again to the Moon” and “Rodeo Dr.” With two sold-out headlining enviornment exhibits in NYC and LA and a late-game Afrobeats hit in his remix of Victor Thompson’s “Blessings” – Gunna didn’t simply survive the (largely unwarranted) backlash, he rendered it inconsequential. 

Why Not Prime 10: As vital of a 12 months as this was Gunna, the rapper didn’t fairly match his earlier industrial heights: A Reward & A Curse lacking the highest of the Billboard 200 (he’s visited that slot twice earlier than) positively harm his probabilities, as did his stunning Grammys shutout. 

Their 12 months in Pop: The BTS alum had earned some solo success pre-2023, nevertheless it was shortly dwarfed by “Seven,” the frisky Latto collab that debuted atop the Scorching 100, topped the World 200 for (positive sufficient) seven weeks and customarily confirmed that Jung Kook was right here to remain as a solo star. He saved issues rolling with a further pair of high 5 hits — “3D” with Jack Harlow and “Standing Subsequent to You” — and his debut solo LP Golden, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, held off solely by Taylor Swift’s blockbuster 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Together with his hits, accompanying music movies and even a spellbinding Fallon look, Jung Kook proved himself the type of triple-threat we don’t see fairly often within the 2020s (on this nation anyway) — with no much less an exemplar than Usher blessing his solo star standing through his look on the “Standing” Remix.

Why Not Prime 10: Jung Kook actually solely got here on within the second half of the 12 months — so if he retains up the momentum going into 2024, he might be a significant high 10 contender in subsequent 12 months’s rankings.

Their 12 months in Pop: After storming onto the South Korean scene in 2022, NewJeans formally went international in 2023. With good picture management, eye-catching music movies, modern model and among the most open-eared and neatly written singles in pop music, the quintet broke onto the Scorching 100 near-simultaneously with two singles in January, “OMG” and “Ditto.” The group did even higher with July’s Get Up EP, which topped the Billboard 200 and spawned one other three Scorching 100 entries, together with their first to achieve the chart’s high half with the sighing, glowing “Tremendous Shy” — considered one of two songs they performed on the Billboard Music Awards in November. NewJeans ends 2023 as some of the acknowledged and most influential teams in pop, with the sponsorships and accolades to show it.

Why Not Prime 10: They’re nonetheless extraordinarily new, and have but to both launch a full-length album or land a high 40 Scorching 100 hit — although each are most likely coming earlier than too lengthy at this level.

Their 12 months in Pop: The previous teen star proved in 2022 that she had the products to be a pop mainstay along with her acclaimed Emails I Can’t Ship album, however in 2023 she took even greater steps in direction of grownup stardom. Emails‘ intelligent and sweetly sexy “Nonsense” introduced her again to the Scorching 100, largely due to a viral Jimmy Kimmel Stay! efficiency that noticed her killing the choreography and altering her ending advert libs — one thing she’d proceed to do at performances all year long, together with on the VMAs’ pre-show. By 12 months’s finish she was commonly delighting on social media, opening for (and attending Jets residence video games) with Taylor Swift and pissing off the Catholic church over her video to slow-burning hit “Feather” (from March’s Emails deluxe reissue), providing the proper retort: “Jesus was a Carpenter.”

Why Not Prime 10: As massive as “Nonsense” felt, it solely peaked at No. 56 on the Scorching 100, and whereas Carpenter performed stadiums on the Eras Tour, her Emails tour was nonetheless visiting extra mid-sized venues — displaying how a lot room her star nonetheless has to develop.

Their 12 months in Pop: Due to Sexyy Crimson, the entire world needed to go to “Pound City” in 2023. On the high of the 12 months, Sexyy launched the slow-burning single, which ultimately rode a Nicki Minaj remix to a peak of No. 66 on the Scorching 100. An excellent-bigger hit adopted within the freewheeling “SkeeYee” (No. 62), which turned the inaugural No. 1 on the newly launched Billboard TikTok Prime 50. Sexyy’s brash, unapologetic, sex-positive persona additionally nurtured Hood Hottest Princess – her second mixtape and first mission below a label – to a peak of No. 62 on the Billboard 200. Oh, and who can overlook her opening for Drake and scoring successful alongside him and SZA with “Wealthy Child Daddy”? Past the numbers, Sexyy refused to take away her foot from popular culture’s neck this 12 months: From her stunning being pregnant debut to her controversial feedback in help of Donald Trump, Sexyy Crimson towered over the 12 months’s conversations.

Why Not Prime 10: Sexyy’s industrial feats didn’t fairly line up with how massive her presence felt this 12 months. To not point out, we solely had a handful of complete songs from the rapper till the Hood Hottest Princess deluxe version was launch every week in the past! 

Their 12 months in Pop: Once you kick off the 12 months by turning a dramatic divorce into Latin Grammy-winning Scorching 100 high 10 hit, the remainder of the calendar must be mild work. Shakira proved as such with a 12 months that noticed her exploring the bounties of collaboration: Her Bizarrap collab clearly paid good-looking dividends, however so did her linkups with Karol G (the Scorching 100 high 10 hit “TQG”), Manuel Turizo (“Copa Vacía”) and Fuerza Regida (“El Jefe”). Don’t be mistaken, nonetheless: Shakira can nonetheless kill it on her lonesome. Her electrical Tonight Present efficiency of “BZRP Music Classes, Vol. 53” went viral, the heartfelt “Acróstico” earned a track of the 12 months nod on the Latin Grammys and he or she shut down the MTV VMAs with a career-spanning medley in honor of her Video Vanguard Award win.

Why Not Prime 10: Sure, Shakira had an enormous 12 months, however with no album or tour prior to now twelve months, different artists had greater, extra all-encompassing years. 

Their 12 months in Pop: Questions of whether or not Travis Scott might nonetheless be as related in pop music 5 years after Astroworld — and two years after the lethal Astroworld Competition catastrophe that also hangs over his profession — had been answered with the discharge of this 12 months’s Utopia. The album (and its accompanying Circus Maximus movie) took over the music world each for the week main as much as it and for the week after its launch, as followers parsed its tracklist for among the massive names included (SZA, Drake, The Weeknd, Beyoncé) and debated private favorites. The album moved 496,000 models in its first week — simply the most effective debut for a 2023 rap album — and held on high for 4 weeks complete, then was adopted by Scott’s Circus Maximus Tour, taking him round this nation’s arenas this fall and winter.

Why Not Prime 10: Exterior of the couple weeks this summer time Utopia clearly dominated its prolonged influence felt a bit of muted in comparison with Astroworld, and the set failed to provide a single as culture-dominating or enduring as “Sicko Mode.”

Their 12 months In Pop: With a half-decade separating Troye Sivan from his final LP (2018’s Bloom), the Aussie pop star got here again with a vengeance in 2023. After enjoying a supporting function within the The Weeknd’s largely derided (however nonetheless culturally pervasive) HBO drama The Idol, Sivan unleashed “Rush,” a tasty slice of dance-pop that earned him a pair of Grammy nods and his highest-peaking solo Scorching 100 entry in seven years (No. 77). One thing to Give Every Different, his third studio album, arrived to ample acclaim and spawned one other Scorching 100 entry in “One in all Your Women,” arguably some of the radical queer mainstream pop songs in not too long ago reminiscence. That observe got here full with an immediately viral Ross Lynch-led music video that, together with the clips for “Rush” and “Received Me Began,” cemented Sivan as some of the ostentatious visible auteurs of his class. 

Why Not Prime 10: Troye Sivan has arguably by no means been extra culturally related than he’s now, however his industrial success was not fairly at famous person stage this 12 months: One thing to Give Every Different landed as his lowest-peaking studio LP on the Billboard 200 (No. 20), and none of its tracks have reached the Scorching 100’s high 60.  

Their 12 months in Pop: Victoria Monét’s story clearly begins lengthy earlier than the inflection level that was the 2023 MTV VMAs, however few moments are as emblematic as her revealing that MTV handed on having her carry out on the awards present — after which coming out with a whopping seven Grammy nominations a number of months later. Amongst these nods was a report of the 12 months nod for “On My Mama,” the last word tribute to ‘00s Southern Black tradition, which rode Sean Bankhead’s choreography for its immediately viral music video to the best Scorching 100 peak of her recording profession (No. 48). “On My Mama” served because the third single from Jaguar II, Monét’s debut studio album, which picked her up a pair of Soul Practice Music Awards, boasted collaborations with everybody from Buju Banton to Earth, Wind & Hearth, anchored an acclaimed tour that hit three totally different continents and earned her her highest Billboard 200 peak but (No. 60). 

Why Not Prime 10: Once more, a significant breakout 12 months for Monét as a recording artist, however her industrial returns don’t fairly warrant a high 10 placement on the present second. Furthermore, most of her breakout moments occurred within the latter half of the 12 months, so a good greater 2024 might be within the playing cards for her. 

Their 12 months in Pop: One of many largest success tales of 2022, Zach Bryan began out 2023 with breakout hit “One thing within the Orange” hitting the highest 10 on the Scorching 100 and solely gained steam from there. His well-reviewed self-titled album debuted atop the Billboard 200 in September, and likewise spawned a Scorching 100-topping smash together with his Kacey Musgraves duet “I Keep in mind Every part,” as different big-charting 2023 artists from Tyler Childers to Oliver Anthony Music to Noah Kahan might additionally declare to have been boosted by his rising tide. He additionally introduced a 2024 arenas-and-stadiums tour in August, with luminaries like Jason Isbell and Sheryl Crow as openers, and even when information broke of his arrest in September, it simply added to his outlaw legacy — with followers printing T-shirts of his mug shot hours later.

Why Not Prime 10: He’s a star for positive, however the “pop” a part of it’s nonetheless a bit of past him — he’s by no means had an actual crossover radio hit or a significant TV look, and won’t be curious about enjoying the sport that will result in these type of seems anyway. For now at the very least, he’s doubtless content material being America’s largest cult star.