We’re one-fourth of the way through 2026 already, and a busy year for pop stardom continued through its third month with the long-awaited returns of perhaps the two biggest male acts in global pop music — one solo and one group — with new albums, new singles and music videos, new Netflix-streamed concerts and new tours still on the horizon. Meanwhile, a pair of women stayed unmovable around the top of the Hot 100 (and busy in its lower stretches), and perhaps the most pivotal rapper of the 21st century made his full presence felt once again, for better and/or worse.
This week on the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, we looked back at another full March in pop stardom. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staffers Kyle Denis and Michael Saponara to share and debate our respective March top five lists, while also naming some honorable mentions, some disappointments, and some artists who we’re looking forward to in the next few months of the new year. (If you want to listen back to our January and February 2026 recaps, or any of our monthly recaps from 2025, you can check them all out here.)
While recapping the month, we ask all the most pressing questions about March 2026 in pop stardom: Did BTS do what it had to do with its insanely anticipated return? Is Harry Styles at risk of one of his revived old hits lapping most or all of the songs off his new album? Everyone was talking about Ye the past month, but what are people actually saying about Bully? How did we not get either RAYE’s new album or its hit lead single just one spot higher on the Billboard charts? How much s–t do we give Jack Harlow about either his new album’s performance or his now-infamous Popcast quote? And perhaps most importantly: Is Kacey Musgraves really about to play the ACM Awards for the first time?
Check it out above, and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!
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:
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.
