What Do Bruno Mars' & Harry Styles' New Albums Tell Us About Where Each Pop Star Is in His Career?

Bruno Mars released his debut album in 2010, while Harry Styles and his One Direction bandmates dropped theirs in 2011. In the decade and a half since, these two have skyrocketed to superstardom in their own ways -- and then in the past two weeks, they each blessed pop fans with a brand-new project. On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are taking a closer look at Mars' The Romantic (released Feb. 27) and Styles' Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally (March 6) and where each pop star is in his respective career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has become more and more open-minded over the years, inducting superstars from the worlds of pop (Madonna), hip-hop (Jay-Z) and beyond, and helping to evolve how "rock & roll" is even defined. So it's no surprise that we have some of the poppiest nominees yet this year, all angling to be inducted this fall, including P!nk, Mariah Carey, Shakira and New Edition. On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking about the just-announced contenders and where our colleague Andrew Unterberger is placing each nominee's voting odds heading into the Class of 2026 reveal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to Mumford & Sons’ new Prizefighter album, “I think this is the best music we’ve ever made,” Marcus Mumford declares to the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast. “I love it more than anything we’ve ever done.” Prizefighter is the band’s sixth full-length studio effort and comes less than a year after its last set, March 2025’s Rushmere. That’s a fast turnaround for a group that historically has gone between two-and-a-half to six years between albums — but it was a chance meeting with writer/musician/producer Aaron Dessner that sparked the shortest wait between albums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are taking a closer look at the Billboard.com reader poll that went live last week asking who should headline next year's Super Bowl halftime show, Right now, BTS is leading by a landslide, with more than 85% of the vote. It would make sense for the newly reunited Korean superstars to cap their sure-to-be-active comeback year with potentially a big Grammys night -- like Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny have done the last two years -- followed by an epic performance on the Super Bowl stage. Of course, Taylor Swift is always in the Super Bowl conversation too, and we think Post Malone could be an overwhelmingly supported pick knowing how many genres he crosses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking about all the choices Bad Bunny made for his halftime spectacle, from the cinematography to the social messaging to the famous faces that joined him on the Levi's Stadium field, including special guests Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There was a lot of pop love to go around at Sunday's 2026 Grammy Awards, where four different artists won in the Big Four categories and the pop categories shared the wealth. Katie and Keith discuss the winners and chat about the performances on the show. Plus, there's chart news on Megadeth scoring its first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 ever, while Harry Styles' "Aperture" debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are taking a closer look at five pop categories at Sunday night's Grammy Awards: best pop solo performance, best pop duo/group performance, best pop vocal album, best dance pop recording, and best traditional pop album. Who do we think will take home pop gold? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harry Styles is read to "Kiss All the Time (and "Disco, Occasionally") with the release of his fourth studio album, announced last week -- and we're hoping he's also ready to answer all our pop prayers. Katie and Keith are talking about the March 6 album and its lead single "Aperture," arriving Thursday. Might Styles pop up on the Grammys on Feb. 1 to perform? Can we expect out-of-the-gate success like he found on his previous album "Harry's House?" Also, the team has chart news on Zach Bryan, Bruno Mars, Sienna Spiro and the buzzy "Heated Rivalry" soundtrack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are looking ahead to this month's Oscar nominations after a "Golden" night for the KPop crew. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you've been online this past week, you've likely seen countless headlines and social posts paying tribute to the "end of MTV." But what exactly is ending? On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, we're sorting through all the memorials to discuss the real story, which is that MTV shuttered the last remaining music-only channels throughout the world -- but the move doesn't impact the version of MTV that U.S. viewers can very much still tune into. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices