Can you believe Fourth of July weekend was only a month ago? It feels a lot longer than that since Madonna released her Confessions II album, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got married, and Toby Keith got played at so many 250th anniversary celebrations across America he recharted with the highest Billboard Hot 100 peak of his career. We got nearly enough for a full pop star month in that one weekend, but there was still plenty more to come, including some of the year’s most-anticipated LP releases, a jam-packed Lollapalooza, and in the midst of all of it, a World Cup that included a star-studded halftime show at its finals.
This week on the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, we catch up with all the stars who defined July 2026 in pop stardom. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staffers Kyle Denis and Emily Fuentes to share and debate our respective July top five lists, while also naming some honorable mentions, some disappointments, and some artists who we’re looking forward to in the second half of the year. (If you want to listen back to our first four 2026 recaps, or any of our 2025 episodes, you can check them all out here.)
Along the way, we answer all the most pressing questions about July in pop stardom: Did Charli xcx’s Lollapalooza set win over the folks who weren’t yet convinced about Music, Fashion, Film? Can we still celebrate Ariana Grande’s wins the past month without it being overwhelmed by discussion over her appearance? Was it more of an event getting shut out of Jay-Z’s Yankee Stadium shows than actually getting in? Do we not give Shakira proper credit for still being so central to the culture 30 years after her breakthrough? Are we ever going to get all of what we want from Gracie Abrams’ music? And perhaps most pressingly: Is the rising Nepo Baby discourse a good thing or bad thing for Stella Lefty?
And as we say in every one of these GPS podcast posts — if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights:
Transgender Law Center
Trans Lifeline
Destination Tomorrow
Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe
Human Rights Campaign – In Your Area
Also, please consider giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org.
If you are struggling with disordered eating, please contact the National Alliance for Eating Disorders at (866) 662-1235. You can also visit their websites for resources, help, and more information.
