Billboard Staff’s Greatest Pop Stars of 2025: Rookie of the Year — Olivia Dean

Trending on Billboard For this year’s update of our ongoing Greatest Pop Star by Year project, Billboard will be counting down our editorial staff picks for the 10 Greatest Pop Stars of 2025 , starting on Monday (Jan. 19). Before that, we revealed our Honorable Mentions for 2025 on Thrusday, and our Comeback of the Year is coming later today. Now, we salute the artist to the artist who crashed the mainstream for the first time in the biggest way this year: British singer-songwriter Olivia Dean, who burst through at a time when few new pop artists were breaking out, and blew up bigger, wider and faster than anyone could’ve expected. Listen to our Greatest Pop Stars podcast discussion about Olivia Dean’s Rookie of the Year campaign here. It was fitting, perhaps, that Olivia Dean’s 2025 would kick off with an original song for the Renée Zellweger-starring romcom Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. The London-born BRIT School graduate’s 2023 debut album Messy was about the chaos - and liberating freedom - of rebuilding your life after romantic misadventures, something the film’s titular character knows a thing or two about. Released in February, “It Isn’t Perfect But It Might Be” wasn’t a runaway success, topping out at No. 36 on the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart ( Mad About the Boy , however, was the largest-grossing British film of 2025). But it bridged the gap between eras, and proved the first of many smart maneuvers in an electrifying breakout campaign. The success of Olivia Dean’s 2025 was not about chance, but careful placement of an artist with cross-generational appeal. Savvy decisions, stellar songs and a unique artist persona put Dean in prime position to succeed. Released in late September, The Art of Loving became an immediate mainstay on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and a viral moment for “Man I Need” propelled it to global smash status. Prior to 2025, Dean’s performance on the charts on both sides of the pond was modest. Messy topped out at No. 4 on the U.K. Albums Chart and in 2023, while a new, Leon Bridges-featuring version of “The Hardest Part,” first released three years prior, marked her maiden appearance on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart at No. 39. Not exactly a knockout blow, but it signaled that gains could be made for Dean stateside, an encouraging sign for the U.K. industry at a time when the chances of a new breakout star appeared slim. The industry had faith in Dean, however. Her label Capitol renovated an east London house into a cosy recording studio - dubbed “The House of Loving” in the LP’s liner notes - complete with her own piano. The LP’s first single “Nice to Each Other” captured that homely feel, a subtle guitar riff complimented Dean’s understated vocals in a tale rife with domestic motifs: “I don’t know where the switches are, or where you keep the cutlery,” she sighed, painting an image of a romantic relationship close to combustion. During...

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