Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century Podcast: Usher (No. 11) & Nos. 25-11 Recap With AJ Marks

On this week’s (Oct. 11) episode of the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century podcast, we finish off the bottom 15 of our list with a pop icon so legendary you can identify him by one letter — and then a quick look back at those Nos. 25-11 artists, with help from a special guest.

First, we recap the rise, fall, and rise again of Usher — who began the 21st century as one of the world’s biggest pop stars and spent the next five years getting even bigger, with a 2004 that rivals nearly any other single-year peak this century. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staff writer Kyle Denis and R&B/Hip-Hop charts manager Trevor Anderson to recall the highs of Usher’s run, the gradual decline that followed, and the comeback of recent years that’s validated his legacy and allowed everyone to remember what a massive part of pop music and culture he’s been for over a quarter-century now.

Then, we welcome our first outside guest to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast in AJ Marks, moderator of the esteemed r/Popheads forum (and host of the stellar Main Pod Girl podcast). AJ shares how the Popheads community has reacted to the list so far, (politely) airs some of his own grievances about artists he feels were unfairly ranked or relegated to the Honorable Mentions list, and helps us look forward to the list’s top 10 with some of his own hopes and predictions. (He also helps get justice for a pair of artists left off even the Honorable Mentions through our end-of-pod categories.)

Listen to our latest below, catch up on our past episodes here, and be sure to subscribe to Billboard‘s Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century series wherever you get your podcasts! (New episodes will be revealed every Friday, following the publishing of our new Greatest Pop Star rankings for that week.)