Celebrities, famous singers, and especially pop musicians all change every year. For aspiring pop artists, this is great because it means they can always break into the scene and have the chance to become incredibly famous very quickly!
But, it’s also a curse; many stars fall back down to obscurity just as fast as they rocketed to success.
For the rest of us, we will always have tons of legendary stars, modern favourites, and up-and-coming personalities and talents to enjoy! It makes listening to music, watching music videos, and attending concerts exciting and new. But it also means that making a decisive list like this is next to impossible.
While it’s not feasible to make a list of all the pop stars who have ever graced the sound waves, we can highlight a few here and hopefully teach you something new!
Here are 6 amazing singers and personalities in pop music who have influenced the culture of a generation in one way or another!
Michael Jackson
You can’t talk about pop stars without mentioning the King of Pop, who, to this day, is still one of the most famous male pop singers in the world.
Being a top pop idol requires more than just singing talent; you have to have the look and the personality to enrapture audiences over and over, even when they aren’t actively engaging with your art.
Jackson had what it takes to be a household name, and he stayed relevant for his entire career, right up until his death in 2009. To this day, people still talk about him and re-listen to his repertoire of songs in an extremely high capacity; Spotify reports that he has 38.3 million monthly listeners.
One of the things that set Jackson apart from other pop artists was his dedication to performance. His music videos were revolutionary, boasting incredible costumes and set designs as well as dance moves. His live shows were unparalleled, featuring signature moves like the Moonwalk, the Anti-Gravity Lean, the Toestand, the Circle-Slide, the Robot, and the Spin. His showmanship is one of the reasons he is still considered the number one of the top pop artists.
Some of Jackson’s most popular pop songs include “Bad,” “Billie Jean,” “Thriller,” “Beat It” and “Man in the Mirror.” In 1982, “Thriller”, the album, became the best-selling album of all time with about 70 million copies and snagged Jackson eight Grammys at once. It is still the best-selling album of all time as of 2024.
Some of Michael Jackson's Achievements
Including 8 wins in one night in 1984
In 1 week following his death in 2009
In several different categories
Taylor Swift
Whether it’s for her concerts, her boyfriends, her intellectual property debacles, or her interpersonal drama, Swift has been in the news and tabloids a lot over the past few years. Love her or hate her, it’s undeniable that she is one of the biggest names in the pop world - ever.
This female pop artist launched her career in 2008 with “Fearless,” and it’s been going steadily since then, even when changing her genre from country to pop. While fighting to keep the rights to her own music, Swift grabbed the attention of essentially all of America.
It's a good thing, too, since it helped her publicize her re-recorded tracks and maintain popularity. A lesser artist would have struggled immensely and may have even been wiped out of the game.
For many people, especially girls and women, Taylor Swift is an inspiration; she speaks up, speaks her mind, takes decisive action, and doesn’t care what the haters think.
For her work, she currently stands as the most awarded artist by Billboard and the American Music Awards, with 40 awards from each. She has been awarded Woman of the Decade (for 2010-2019), an award invented just for her, and Artist of the Decade (2022).
Additionally, she has 14 Grammys and was the first female artist to win 3 Grammys for Album of the Year in 2021.
Some of her most popular pop hits include “Love Story,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “Blank Space,” “Shake It Off,” and “Lover.”
Prince
The 80s and early 90s were a time when over-the-top flamboyance and larger-than-life personalities really shone. Prince is a prime example (perhaps the example) of the type of aesthetic and persona 80s stars could carry: campy, glam, everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink, experimental, and sex - not sexy, just sex.
Prince somehow embodied all this and more and still had a massive mainstream following. If an artist today tried to be all the things Prince was and do all the things he did, they’d be labelled a try-har,d and only a small portion of the population would “get it.”
However, many modern pop artists use a little of Prince’s spice in their tracks, like incredibly high falsettos, with great success because of the path Prince paved with his out-there art. Not only was he an extremely talented singer, dancer, and instrumental virtuoso, but he made himself unignorable with his incredible showmanship and style.
Furthermore, Prince’s bold choices in compositions were combined with daring creative choices like changing his name to a symbol representing “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince” aka “The Artist” and a (posthumous) album recorded under the pseudonym “Camille,” which was his feminine alter-ego.
Over his career, Prince sold over 150 million records globally, making him one of the best-selling pop singers of all time. He’s also been inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the UK Music Hall of Fame, and the R&B Music Hall of Fame.
After his death in 2016, he was posthumously inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame. He held seven Grammy awards and Brit Awards, six AMA awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, an Academy Award for his score in Purple Rain (the film), and a Golden Globe. In 2013, he was awarded the Billboard Icon Award, and in 2019, the Library of Congress added the film Purple Rain to the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Britney Spears
One of the most pivotal female pop singers of the '90s and early 2000s, Britney Spears captured the world’s attention and held it for a very long time, before unfortunately burning out due to her declining mental health and smothering conservatorship. Today, everyone still knows who Spears is even if they aren’t as familiar with her works as those of us who grew up listening to “...Baby, One More Time” on the radio and the subsequent controversial frenzy in the media.
As the Princess of Pop, Spears is well-known for her provocative songs, incredible stage performances, and highly choreographed music videos, which have earned her the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.
An accomplished singer and trained gymnast, Britney stunned the world in her debut album “...Baby, One More Time” when she was just 17 years old, in 1999. It was number one on the US Billboard 200 and earned two platinum certifications after only one month, selling over 13 million copies in the US alone.
She is also the youngest artist to have a Hollywood Walk of Fame star, which was awarded when she was 21.
While she only holds one Grammy and AMA each, she has won eight Billboard awards and 12 Teen Choice Awards, which is uniquely relevant for someone like Britney, who was one of the formative pop music artists for the new era of pop after Y2K.
Although she is far less active than she once was and is now known for many controversies, scandals, and tragedies in addition to her music, Britney Spears will forever be carved into the hearts of Millennials as an iconic entertainer, philanthropist, and one of the most incredible popular singers.
Lady Gaga
The new face of the pop icon was revealed in the late 00s and 2010s with the monstrous (get it?) debut of Lady Gaga. She had a rough beginning, facing rejection from peers and casting directors for various reasons, but she persevered anyway and as a result, became a self-made star. She is notable among female pop artists for her incredible range and willingness to sing in “un-feminine” tones.
Her first album, “The Fame” was released in 2008 and instantly took the world by storm. The following year, it was rereleased as “The Fame Monster” with additional tracks like “Bad Romance” and “Alejandro,” which re-sparked her already incredibly high popularity level.
Her early career was marked by extreme camp outfits which kept her name in the media often.
Later, she transitioned to being more known for her uplifting, edgy, and supportive lyrics, especially in the LGBTQ+ community.
Furthermore, Gaga is an ardent supporter of a variety of different philanthropic causes, such as Haiti, Hurricane Sandy, anti-fracking, HIV and AIDS prevention, the “It’s On Us” campaign and the Born This Way Foundation that she created.
She currently holds 13 Grammys and numerous other awards and has even broken into the acting industry, where she has been well-received in her performances.
Harry Styles
Another modern pop star, this former boy band member took the world by storm in 2017 when he released his first solo album post-One Direction.
While his 2017 album “Harry Styles” was received with critical acclaim and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, it was his second album “Fine Line” that rocketed his fame up another notch with his hit “Watermelon Sugar” in 2019. This bop won eight awards, including a Grammy and a Brit and received a 7x platinum award in the US alone, and now he is one of the most famous artists today.
Beyond his music, Styles has also used his fame for philanthropy like LGBTQ rights, cancer research, HeForShe and Drop4Drop, and the general notion of “Treat People With Kindness.”
He has also dabbled in acting and is now well-known for his extremely atypical style of dress which regularly received mixed reviews from fans and critics. But is his flamboyant and unexpected wardrobe really that strange in the world of pop, which has featured male performers like Prince, Elton John, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Liberace, and Michael Jackson?
Or is Styles continuing the tradition of pop stars pushing the envelope and exploring creativity and expression past what the average person says is allowed?
One thing is for certain, Styles is still rather early in his solo career and has a lot more time to make even bigger marks in pop culture history. What will he do next?
Pop culture and pop music have always been a wild ride. While there are so many other artists, musicians, and singers who didn’t make it onto our list, that’s only because readers don’t generally have time to read a 10,000-word article! Pop icons influence culture, and vice versa, and it’s exciting to think of the upcoming famous pop artists and the marks they might leave in the world of entertainment and beyond.
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