This podcast episode is part of the Billboard editorial staff’s Greatest Pop Stars of 2025 list. Find our accompanying Taylor Swift essay here, and all the rest of our essays and podcasts related to the list here. In 2025, Taylor Swift proved once again to be in a class of her own in terms of commercial dominance and world-stopping cultural impact. This Greatest Pop Stars of 2025 episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast looks at how Taylor Swift ended up at No. And perhaps most importantly: Does that number, and Taylor Swift’s dominance in general, mean that it’s ridiculous to have her anywhere but No.