Over the past six years, Billboard's staff has made its picks for the greatest pop star of every year, from 1981 to present. See our full updated list here.
In this sidebar to our Greatest Pop Stars by Year article series, we look at the 10 greatest years in the history of modern pop stardom.
BTS broke through the final barriers that had long been up for Korean pop stars to become the biggest pop group in America.
Ariana Grande became the ideal pop star for the streaming age at the end of the 2010s.
Drake emerged from unlikely roots in the late '00s to become the biggest rapper of the 2010s -- which, by the time his decade was done, had become the same thing as being the 2010s' biggest pop star.
