For this year’s update of our ongoing Greatest Pop Star by Year project, Billboard has been counting down our editorial staff picks for the 10 Greatest Pop Stars of 2025 all the past two weeks. Last week, we revealed our Honorable Mentions artists for 2025 as well as our Rookie of the Year and Comeback of the Year artists. Now, we reach No. 2 on our list with a three–time champion on the Greatest Pop Stars rankings who hasn’t fallen outside of our yearly top five yet this decade: Taylor Swift.

Listen to our Greatest Pop Stars podcast discussion about Taylor Swift’s year of career accomplishments here, and find the rest of our updating top 10 list with all our corresponding essays and pods here.

After a relatively quiet beginning to the year sitting alone in her tower, just honing her powers — and yes, dancing the night away at the Grammys and making her second Super Bowl appearance — Taylor Swift called upon us to pledge allegiance to her hands, her team and her vibes in 2025. Naturally, we obeyed.

Her well-deserved break since finishing the blockbuster, globe-traversing Eras Tour in December 2024 ended when she lit the sky up in May. A nearly six-year battle had concluded: The superstar finally owned her masters. “I’ve been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening. I really get to say these words: All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me,” she wrote in a letter to her fans on her website, with an accompanying social media post of herself surrounded by her first six albums – Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation – all now totally hers. “I can’t thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now.”

The well-documented fight for her work began in 2019 when Scooter Braun bought her label – Big Machine Records. The following year, Braun sold only the rights to Swift’s music to Shamrock Holdings, where they stayed until Swift’s purchase. (Of course, the smashing success of not only her tour but her quest to re-record her masters helped the pop superstar amass the funds needed, while her emphasis on the re-recordings helped devalue her original recordings.) The news of her catalog re-acquisition sparked a surge for her entire catalog on the Billboard 200, but none more than 2017’s Reputation: her sixth full-length rose from 78-5 on the chart, possibly fueled by the ever-present desire from Swifties for her re-recorded version; definitely powered by the wont to support an artist in her most personal creation.

If that was all she accomplished in 2025, Swift still would have loomed large in the pop world. While the singer-songwriter wasn’t the first to re-record her early albums, no artist made their re-recordings such an event, or such a commercial success: the Taylor’s Versions of Fearless, Red, Speak Now and 1989 each debuted at no. 1 on the Billboard 200 — with 1989 TV even scoring a bigger debut week than the blockster original a decade earlier, and two of her From the Vault tracks from those recordings, “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” and “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version),” debuting atop the Billboard Hot 100. Swift’s acumen in turning a career setback into a defining achievement set a precedent that will reverberate in the industry for decades to come. 

But even with that full-circle moment, Swift wasn’t nearly done for the year. In June, she jumped on stage at her then-boyfriend Travis Kelce’s Tight Ends and Friends Nashville concert – borrowing a guitar from Chase Rice – to perform a joyfully countrified “Shake It Off” for a screaming crowd, as well as for everyone watching at home from their phones. For those who know, their Swifty senses began to tingle: When she makes a surprise appearance in this manner, she usually has something up her sleeve. And that she did.

When August rolled around – a glitterbomb dropped. Swift appeared on New Heights, Kelce’s podcast with his brother Jason, to announce her 12th album The Life of a Showgirl on the sports-and-pop-culture show. “This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during [the Eras Tour],” she explained at the time. As Jason deftly questioned his brother’s girlfriend about not just about Showgirl, but also Eras, her family, her newly acquired taste for sourdough bread, and her relationship with Travis, the world watched a two-hour broadcast that quickly broke records and allowed us a glimpse into her post-Eras world. When Taylor Swift opens her mouth — even if it’s just to make silly bread puns — we all listen.

Unbeknownst to the audience, more brewed behind the scenes of New Heights. As Taylor, Travis and Jason yapped, we’d later learn that the future Hall of Fame tight end had his own surprise. When they finished recording, Travis dropped to one knee and proposed in the garden of his Kansas City home. “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” Swift and Kelce posted weeks after the podcast aired – a millennial caption to beat all millennial captions, which instantly became part of pop culture lore. (The Instagram pics accumulated 37 million likes, becoming the 8th most-liked post on that platform to date.)

Staying mostly quiet again – aside from attending a Cincinnati football game at Arrowhead Stadium and celebrating the wedding of her bestie Selena Gomez aside – Swift waited until the curtain pulled back on The Life of a Showgirl to make another spectacular, historic entrance.

Written and produced by Swift with Red/1989/Reputation collaborators Max Martin and Shellback, her latest full-length arrived in October with a dizzying display of pop panache, anchored by a Shakespearean twist with opener “The Fate of Ophelia” and its gorgeous Swift-directed video, co-starring all of her Eras pals. Beyond that lead single, the Swift-Martin-Shellback trifecta offered the shimmering “Opalite,” the stunningly heartbreaking “Ruin the Friendship,” the funny and irreverent ode to her fiance’s, um, instrument in “Wood,” the Reputation-esque brash exegesis on loyalty with “Cancelled!” and the gloriously audacious title track – a duet with Sabrina Carpenter about fame, fortune and the ones clawing their way up the ladder. And no matter where anyone turned, everyone poked, prodded and dissected the sounds, lyrics and yes, muses – a prospect faced by no other artist in 2025.

An initially muted critical response (with which this writer does not agree) and a jaw-droppingly ridiculous, bot-driven misinformation campaign couldn’t stop what happened next. Buoyed by a wide variety of variants, a barrage of radio and late-night appearances as well as the promise of a return to a big, bright sunny pop after Midnights’ and Poets’ downcast vibes – Swift broke Adele’s record of units moved in its first week with 4.002 million. (She also once again commanded all 10 spots on the Hot 100 – a feat she previously achieved with both 2022’s Midnights and 2024’s The Tortured Poets Department.) The album spent 12 non-consecutive weeks on top of the Billboard 200 — and was No. 1 on the year-end Billboard 200 for 2025, despite the album arriving on the year’s very last tracking week — and ”Ophelia” would go on to become Swift’s longest-leader on the Hot 100 with 10 weeks on top, outlasting 2022’s “Anti-Hero.” 

If that weren’t enough, Swift also gave her base an early Christmas present: The End of an Era, a six-part docuseries chronicling the latter half of her tour in 2024, wrapped up with a concert film The Eras Tour: The Final Show, debuted Dec. 12  Beginning with her return to London in August of 2024, following the thwarted attacks on her shows in Vienna and the tragedy in Southport, England, Swift delicately bared her soul, owning what she felt was her responsibility to keep calm and carry on. (Her relief after the first night coming off the stage could be felt through the screen – her first question involved asking if anything bad had happened, and her first call to Travis relished in the night’s success.) Over the course of the six hours, Swift used the platform to highlight her team – fan-favorite sidekick Kam Saunders’ journey, backup singer Jeslyn Gorman’s health struggles, and dancer Whyley Yoshimura’s career among them – while also shedding shed more light on her close-knit family (particularly her mother Andrea), and giving fans an insider look at her love story with Kelce, which blossomed beautifully under the bright lights.

Two decades in, Swift keeps upping the ante with her storied, almost unrivaled career. Landing at No. 1 on this list in 2021 and 2023, and No. 3 in 2022 and 2024, Swift’s competition is often predominantly held to her past selves – as well as some artists who sync up their dominance more naturally with the calendar, when Swift often makes her full arrival in the later months. Nonetheless, her headshot permanently cemented to the wall, she bossed up, settled down and cleared her schedule for 2026 – perhaps save for her now-imminent nuptials. Can Swift possibly keep her Greatest Pop Stars streak going with yet another top finish next year? Just leave it to her.

Listen to our Taylor Swift Greatest Pop Stars of 2025 podcast discussion here, and check back for the announcement of our No. 1 Greatest Pop Star of 2025 on Friday, Jan. 30!

Nearly four decades into Mariah Carey’s still-vital career, three goals have remained constant for her: to love, heal and uplift.

“I’ve always tried to incorporate messages into my songs like ‘Make It Happen’ and ‘Hero,’ ” says Carey, 56, on a day off from her recent December holiday residency at Las Vegas’ Park MGM. “It’s just an interesting thing to be able to give back in that way. I didn’t grow up with money. And if you grew up like me, it means even more to be able to give back.”

Carey’s long-established commitment to giving back, as well as her prodigious career, will get the spotlight on Jan. 30 when the five-time Grammy Award winner is honored as the 2026 MusiCares Person of the Year. She will join an illustrious circle of prior honorees that includes the Grateful Dead, Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson, Joni Mitchell, Gloria Estefan, Billy Joel and Dolly Parton.

“Mariah Carey’s influence extends far beyond her remarkable artistry,” MusiCares executive director Theresa Wolters said upon the announcement of Carey as Person of the Year. “She has used her platform consistently to provide tangible support to communities, whether through disaster relief, youth empowerment or programs that help those facing barriers to opportunity. Her work exemplifies the values at the heart of MusiCares: creating systems of care that lift people up and ensure music professionals and communities can thrive.”

Over the years, Carey has supported various disaster relief efforts, including for victims of Hurricane Katrina and the COVID-19 pandemic, and has championed other causes like HIV/AIDS, education, human rights and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. But Camp Mariah, the youth initiative she co-founded with the Fresh Air Fund — headed today by CEO Lisa Gitelson — was her first charitable project and is still at the heart of all of her philanthropic endeavors.

In December 1994, Carey, a member of the Fresh Air board, performed a holiday concert at The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in Manhattan — and debuted her now-­classic holiday song, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” The event raised more than $700,000 to benefit her eponymous annual camp in New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley, which launched the following summer, and was further bolstered by a $1 million donation by Carey herself. (Camp Mariah is just one aspect of the work done by Fresh Air, a nonprofit founded in 1877 to provide outdoor experiences for New York children from underserved communities.) The summer component of Fresh Air’s multiyear Career Awareness Program (CAP), Camp Mariah’s free, three-week experience for children between ages 12 and 15 features traditional activities like sports, swimming and hiking complemented by introductions to career tracks ranging from film and photography to robotics and culinary arts, and a careers class that provides help with résumés and cover letters.

“It’s such a big thing for me because most of these kids have never been outside their own blocks,” Carey says of her camp, which was also the setting for her 1996 “Always Be My Baby” music video. “That’s why we keep doing it every year. I go up there and talk to the kids so they can learn about the different things they can do in life.”

Most recently, Carey partnered with LGBTQ+ advocacy organization GLAAD in early December to auction off her hot pink, rhinestone-­studded “Protect the Dolls” jacket — which she wore during an August performance at Brighton, England’s Pride in the Park festival — to support the trans community (it ultimately sold for $5,500).

“All of us should do what we can to give back something,” Carey adds. “And it’s also important to do more than that. I get caught up with my schedule sometimes, so it’s not as much as it should be. But it’s still an important part of my life.”

As is the prolific, record-setting career that in turn has helped foster Carey’s philanthropy — and has also made her a powerful business force in the music industry. Carey became a superstar in 1990 with her self-titled debut album, which featured four No. 1 singles, including “Vision of Love” and “Someday.” Since then, she has amassed 19 No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100, among them “Hero,” “One Sweet Day” and “We Belong Together.” Her 16th studio album, Here for It All, arrived in September, and became her 19th top 10 entry on the Billboard 200. The album — her first since 2018’s Caution — simultaneously landed atop four other charts as well: Top Album Sales, Top Current Album Sales, Top R&B Albums and Independent Albums. After spending the majority of her career on major labels, Carey released Here for It All independently through gamma. and her Mariah imprint.

Alongside her MusiCares recognition — and not to mention her five career Grammys, including a 1991 win for best new artist — Carey continues to receive industry accolades. In 2025, those included the MTV Video Music Awards’ Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, the BET Awards’ Ultimate Icon Award and iHeartRadio Music Awards’ Icon Award. And she capped the year by adding another record-breaking achievement to her already long list of accomplishments. “All I Want for Christmas Is You” scored its 20th week at No. 1 on the Hot 100, surpassing the 19-week runs of Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Old Town Road” and Shaboozey’s “Tipsy (A Bar Song),” in 2019 and 2024, respectively. Prior to “Old Town Road” and “Tipsy,” Carey had held the record for more than two decades with “One Sweet Day,” her 1995 smash featuring Boyz II Men that spent 16 weeks atop the chart. (Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber’s “Despacito” tied that mark in 2017.) Asked about the strategy behind how she’s continued to level up while sustaining such an influential career, Carey credits a team that includes manager Michael Richardson and Rob Light, her agent and CAA partner/managing director.

“I’ve always worked really hard,” Carey says, “because I knew [from the start] that I wanted to be here for a long time. The one lesson I’ve learned is to just be true to yourself. And I was fortunate enough to be able to do that. There were some things along the way that weren’t ideal, you know, but here I am.”

And she’s preparing to level up again: Along with Andrea Bocelli, she will headline the opening ceremony for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on Feb. 6, her first major appearance on that global stage.

With the Park MGM holiday residency — which grossed $8 million over 10 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore — now behind her, Carey says she’s “thinking about doing residencies in different countries in Europe.” Also on tap for her 2026: continuing work on a documentary she’s making with Sony Pictures and a long-teased biopic adaptation of her 2020 best-selling memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, with producer-director Lee Daniels at the helm (the pair previously worked together on Daniels’ films Precious and The Butler).

As Carey’s holiday residency wound down, global music platform Wax Poetics announced its auction of an ultra-rare, original 1988 demo tape by the singer-songwriter-producer had fetched a winning bid of $54,050. It underscores Carey’s legendary status — even if she scoffs at that notion.

“Everybody has their own little meanings for what things they say,” she says. “But I don’t call myself a legend. I’m just still working, still trying hard.”

This story appears in the Jan. 24, 2026, issue of Billboard.