This podcast episode is part of the Billboard editorial staff’s Greatest Pop Stars of 2025 list. Find all our essays and podcasts related to the list here.
At the beginning of 2025, Olivia Dean was still a mostly unfamiliar name to stateside pop fans. She’d seen some success in her U.K. home country with 2023 debut album Messy, but even there, the singer-songwriter was still more of a critical favorite than a proven hitmaker. But when 2025 hit, Dean turned it on early, and the next 12 months proved one long crescendo that has climaxed with her beginning the new year as one of the biggest artists in popular music, on either side of the pond.
This 2025 Rookie of the Year spotlight episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast looks at Olivia Dean’s 12-month journey from burgeoning cult favorite to global pop superstar — find Thomas Smith’s essay on Olivia’s brilliant rookie season here — with a key assist from Billboard U.K.’s Sophie Williams, who helps explain to host Andrew Unterberger how Dean was able to kick her career into such high gear so quickly. We marvel at her 2025 accomplishments, and look forward to what she still might have left on this album campaign in her year to come.
Along the way, we discuss the most important questions of 2025: How did a fill-in gig opening on a rock star’s stadium tour end up being Olivia’s real-life A Star Is Born moment? Why does the BRIT school seem to have a monopoly on the country’s most pivotal pop exports? Is a particular L.A. pop-rock trio still seething about the success of “Man I Need”? Is her there a better word for her 2025 than “nice”? Is “Baby Steps” really the secret weapon of The Art of Loving? Was the fourth Bridget Jones movie really the biggest movie of the year in the U.K.? And most importantly: Is Olivia Dean already setting up for a 2026 that’s gonna be even bigger than her 2025?
Check it out above, along with a YouTube playlist of some of the greatest moments of Dean’s 2025 — all of which are discussed on the pod — and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for complete podcast coverage of this year’s Greatest Pop Stars of 2025 list!
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
Also, please consider giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org.