The Best Pop Artists Of 2023
Updated September 15, 2023 23.0K votes 2.2K voters 27.9K views
Over 2.2K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best Pop Artists Of 2023
Latest additions: Miss Benny
Most divisive: Lizzo
Despite the shade that pop music constantly receives, pop artists will always drive the music industry, reaching massive worldwide audiences through their catchy hit singles while simultaneously inspiring social change on a regular basis. Puerto Rican reggaetón superstar Bad Bunny and singer-songwriter royalty Taylor Swift may have been the unofficial king and queen of 2022's pop scene, but who will reign over 2023? From Gen Z Best New Artist Grammy recipients Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo, to rap's finest Nicki Minaj and Drake, all of the musicians featured below are shaping 2023's pop music scene one Billboard hit single at a time.
Which trending pop singers are you most excited to see live, and whose projects are you currently listening to? Which studio album will break more records than Midnights (if that's even possible)? Vote below for the best pop artists of 2023, and be sure to also check out this year's top new pop songs afterwards.
Ranked by
- 11,798 votesTaylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. She is known for narrative songs about her personal life, which have received widespread media coverage. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 14 to pursue a career in country music. She signed with label Big Machine Records and became the youngest artist signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. Her 2006 eponymous debut album was the longest-charting album of the 2000s in the U.S., where it peaked at number five. The album's third single, "Our Song", made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number-one song on the Hot Country Songs chart. Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in 2008. Buoyed by the success of pop crossover singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", Fearless became the best-selling album of 2009 in the U.S. The album won four Grammy Awards, and Swift became the youngest Album of the Year winner. Swift was the sole writer of her 2010 album Speak Now. It debuted at number one in the U.S., and the single "Mean" won two Grammy Awards. Her fourth album, Red (2012), yielded the successful singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble". For her fifth album, the pop-focused 1989 (2014), she received three Grammys and became the first woman and fifth act overall to win Album of the Year twice. Its singles "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood" reached number one in the U.S., Australia, and Canada. Her sixth album, Reputation (2017), and its lead single, "Look What You Made Me Do", topped the UK and U.S. charts; with the release of Reputation, Swift became the first act to have four albums sell one million copies within one week in the U.S. Her seventh album, Lover (2019), spawned two U.S. number-two singles, "Me!" and "You Need to Calm Down". Having sold more than 50 million albums—including 32 million in the U.S.—and 150 million singles, Swift is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. As a songwriter, she has received awards from the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and was included in Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time in 2015. Her other accolades include 10 Grammy Awards, one Emmy, 23 Billboard Music Awards, six Guinness world records, and appearances in Time's 100 most influential people in the world (2010, 2015, 2019). She also ranked first in the Forbes Celebrity 100 (2016 and 2019), and was the youngest to be featured in the magazine's listing of the 100 most powerful women (2015).
- 21,047 votesDua Lipa (born August 22, 1995) is an English singer, songwriter, and model. Her musical career began at age 14, when she began covering songs by other artists on YouTube. In 2015, she was signed with Warner Music Group and released her first single soon after. In December 2016, a documentary about Lipa was commissioned by The Fader magazine, titled See in Blue. In January 2017, she won the EBBA Public Choice Award. Her self-titled debut studio album was released on June 2, 2017. The album spawned seven singles, including two UK top-10 singles "Be the One" and "IDGAF" and the UK number-one single "New Rules".
- 31,220 votesOlivia Isabel Rodrigo (born February 20, 2003) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She rose to prominence with her lead roles on the Disney television programmes Bizaardvark and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. After signing with Interscope and Geffen Records, she released her debut single "Drivers License" in 2021, which broke various streaming records and finished as one of the best-selling songs of the year along with its successors "Deja Vu" and "Good 4 U". Rodrigo's debut studio album, Sour (2021), topped charts globally and received widespread critical acclaim. She is nominated in seven categories at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist, Album of the Year for Sour, and Record of the Year and Song of the Year for "Drivers License."
- #115 of 354The Best Female Vocalists Ever
- #15 of 96The Best Current Pop Groups/Singers
- #143 of 1,165The Most Beautiful Women In The World
- 41,286 votesAbel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. A prominent figure in contemporary popular music, he is noted for his unconventional music production, artistic reinventions, and his signature use of the falsetto register. His accolades include 4 Grammy Awards, 20 Billboard Music Awards, 22 Juno Awards, 6 American Music Awards, 2 MTV Video Music Awards, a Latin Grammy Award, and nominations for an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. Among the world's best-selling music artists with over 75 million records sold, Tesfaye holds several streaming and Billboard chart records. Tesfaye was listed by Time as one of the world's most influential people in 2020, and was dubbed the "world's most popular artist" by Guinness World Records in 2023. An advocate for racial equality and food security, he was appointed a World Food Programme Goodwill Ambassador in 2021.
- 51,159 votesBillie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell (born December 18, 2001), known professionally as Billie Eilish, is an American singer and songwriter signed to Interscope Records. Her first experience with music occurred when she was 8 years old with the Los Angeles Children's Choir. She crafts most of her music with her brother Finneas O'Connell, who she dubbed her "partner-in-crime" in an interview with Vogue. Her debut single, "Ocean Eyes" (originally recorded for her dance teacher & released in November 2015), went viral and has racked up over 35 million streams on Spotify alone as of February 2018. Her debut EP, Don't Smile at Me (stylized as dont smile at me) was released in August 2017. Following the EP's success, Apple named Eilish as its newest Apple Music UPNEXT artist a month later in October 2017.
- 61,001 votesRobyn Rihanna Fenty (born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, songwriter, record producer, businesswoman, fashion designer, actress and philanthropist. She is known for embracing various musical styles and reinventing her image throughout her career. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the US in 2005, when she signed with Def Jam Recordings to pursue a music career. Rihanna earned significant recognition following the release of her first two studio albums Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl like Me (2006), both of which were influenced by Caribbean music and peaked within the top ten of the US Billboard 200 chart. Rihanna's third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), incorporated more elements of dance-pop and catapulted her to greater stardom, establishing her status as a sex symbol and a leading figure in the music industry. Its international chart-topping single "Umbrella" earned Rihanna her first Grammy Award, winning Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Rihanna extended her fusion of pop, dance and R&B on her next four studio albums, Rated R (2009), Loud (2010), Talk That Talk (2011) and the Grammy Award-winning Unapologetic (2012). All four releases incorporated experimentation of various musical styles and consolidated Rihanna's international chart success, Unapologetic being her first number-one album in the US. The records spawned a string of chart-topping singles, including "Rude Boy", "Only Girl (In the World)", "What's My Name?", "S&M", "We Found Love", "Diamonds" and "Stay". Her eighth studio album, Anti (2016), showcased her control over artistic creativity after her departure from Def Jam. It became her second US number-one album and featured the chart-topping single "Work". Besides solo materials, Rihanna is a prolific featured artist, having collaborated with such musicians as Drake, Eminem and Calvin Harris to similar success. Having sold over 250 million records, Rihanna is one of the world's best-selling music artists. She has earned 14 number-one singles and 31 top-ten singles in the US, and 30 top-ten entries in the UK. Her accolades include nine Grammy Awards, 13 American Music Awards, 12 Billboard Music Awards, and six Guinness World Records. Forbes ranked her among the top ten highest-paid celebrities in 2012 and 2014, and Time named her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world twice (2012 and 2018). Alongside a successful music career, Rihanna is well known for her involvement in humanitarian causes, entrepreneurial ventures and the fashion industry. She is the founder of nonprofit organization Clara Lionel Foundation, cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty, and fashion house Fenty under LVMH. In 2018, the Government of Barbados appointed her as an ambassador with duties promoting education, tourism and investment.
