For this year’s update of our ongoing Greatest Pop Star by Year project, Billboard has been counting down our editorial staff picks for the 10 Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 for the last week — you can see the artists we’ve already counted down, plus our Honorable Mentions, Comeback of the Year and our Rookie of the Year artists all right here. Now, at No. 2, we remember the year in Sabrina Carpenter — a breakout year that cemented her as one of pop’s leading lights of the decade. (Check back today at 2:00 p.m. ET for our No. 1 artist reveal and essay, as well as our new Greatest Pop Stars podcast discussing both of our top two artists and the thinking behind their rankings.)
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What do Jesus and Sabrina Carpenter have in common? For one, “Jesus was a carpenter,” as the sassy singer-songwriter said in 2023 to Variety. But secondly, by now both have successfully turned water into wine. After relationship drama dragged Carpenter into the limelight just three years ago, Sabrina regained control of her public image — and after years of hard work, a string of smash hits and a no-misses album propelled Carpenter to superstardom in 2024, cementing her status as America’s newest sweetheart.
Carpenter was already a viral sensation going into this year: her 2023 made her one of the most promising breakthrough pop acts, mainly due to her showmanship and spicy sense of humor. It felt as if everyone was waiting in anticipation for each newly penned outro to live performances of her breakout hit “Nonsense” — some of which were delivered on her Emails I Can’t Send Tour, and some during her highly anticipated opening sets at Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, where some attendees showed up in full Sabrina-inspired, heart cutout-corseted outfits. Her retro aesthetics, carefully curated performances and suggestive lyrics captivated real-life audiences around the world and charmed the internet.
The pint-sized pop purveyor’s rise to superstardom kicked into gear with the release of her first 2024 single. Approximately one month after her final Eras date in Singapore, Carpenter released “Espresso” and its corresponding sun-soaked music video on April 11. The laid-back synth-pop bop made major waves upon release, debuting at No. 7 and marking Carpenter’s first-ever Hot 100 top 10 debut – but this was only the beginning. The song took on its own life as fans extracted their favorite pieces, from the borderline nonsensical “That’s that me espresso” tease of the chorus to the “I’m working late/ ‘Cuz I’m a singerrrr” flex of the second verse, which was so catchy and fun to sing that it transcended the need for relatability. Both phrases entered the 2024 pop culture lexicon, with memes and short form video trends attached.
The world became hooked on “Espresso” — and true to her lyrics, Carpenter was working late. As the single grew, she promoted it in seemingly every way possible. The first major performance took place almost immediately following the song’s release (April 12) on Coachella’s main stage, where she drew massive crowds and performed an otherwise Emails-heavy set; about a month later on May 18, Carpenter performed “Espresso” and “Feather” (with a “Nonsense” outro, by then a trademark bit) on Saturday Night Live; and on June 22, the song peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100. By the end of the season (and to no one’s surprise), “Espresso” was declared the global song of the summer.
Fans were still sipping on that “me espresso” when Short n’ Sweet was announced on June 3 — and just two days later, its second single (and accompanying music video) “Please Please Please” arrived. The Jack Antonoff-produced, shimmering strutter introduced Carpenter’s newer fans to the higher end of her vocal range, and introduced the masses to her newfound country twang. Only a week after debuting at No. 2, the single became Carpenter’s first-ever No. 1 on the Hot 100.
“Please Please Please” was also the first relatable hit of the Short n’ Sweet cycle — and “Heartbreak is one thing, my ego’s another/ I beg you, don’t embarrass me, motherf—ker” became the plea of the summer, foreshadowing the end of Carpenter’s relationship with video co-star and Saltburn actor (and at the time, boyfriend) Barry Keoghan. It also soundtracked one of the most viral relationship disasters of 2024: the live coupling (and uncoupling) of Love Island USA contestants Kaylor Martin and Aaron Evans. Once again, Carpenter’s single became attached to big pop culture moments.
By the time Short n’ Sweet arrived on August 23, “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” were dominating the summer — and as if having two successful singles wasn’t enough, Carpenter deemed one more track worthy of single status: “Taste,” the album’s opening track. Was it about her fling with Shawn Mendes after he separated from Camila Cabello? Rumors flew and conspiracies were formed as fans scrambled to piece together clues — but truthfully, it might not have mattered, because the video had legs of its own. This time, Carpenter tapped a new actor: Wednesday star Jenna Ortega. The two engaged in a bloody catfight inspired by the film-turned-musical Death Becomes Her, expanding Carpenter’s man-slaughtering cinematic universe, previously introduced in the “Feather” video. “Taste” debuted at No. 2 on the Hot 100, leading to Carpenter simultaneously placing three songs in the top 10 for eight weeks – an achievement which put her in the ranks of Justin Bieber and The Beatles.
With just 12 tracks – two of which fans had already heard – Carpenter proved that she was here to stay. Featuring the help of an Avengers-level group of collaborators, including producers-to-the-stars Jack Antonoff and Ian Kirkpatrick, and longtime top 40 hit writers Amy Allen and Julia Michaels, Sabrina’s refreshingly honest approach to pop felt more refined than ever. The dreamlike, sparkling soundscapes first previewed on “Please Please Please” underscored the playful femininity on highlights like “Bed Chem”; the vulnerable lyricism of the Emails era comes through in ballads like “Lie to Girls” and “Dumb & Poetic”; and the country twang previewed on “Please Please Please” finds its full yeehaw potential on “Slim Pickins.”
The Short n’ Sweet album was compact as its title promised, but the Tour of the same name was much bigger-scale. From September 23 to November 15, Carpenter brought her album to life across 29 venues in the US. Her last Emails Tour visited mid-size venues; this time around, she sold out Madison Square Garden and Crypto.com Arena. The massive leap between stages, though intimidating for some, looked easy for Carpenter, as she breezed through each show with her 1950s pin-up-inspired outfit changes, playful gimmicks and (of course) plenty of innuendos.
Just as “Nonsense” became the viral moment of the Emails tour, Short n’ Sweet had an even bigger moment with “Juno.” Ahead of its performance each night, Sabrina whipped out a pair of fuzzy pink handcuffs to arrest (and hit on) an audience member – some of which were lucky fans, and some of which were celebrities, including Millie Bobby Brown, Rachel Sennott, Margaret Qualley and SNL’s Marcello Hernandez, acting as “Domingo,” the homewrecking hottie from an “Espresso”-based parody skit. Regardless of the subject, the banter that took place went viral almost every time – even separately from the performance of “Juno” itself, which became the 2024 cutesy Kama Sutra. Deafening screams nearly drowned out Carpenter’s vocals as she laid down, bent over or pulled her hair back to demonstrate a new sex position, asking the crowd: “Have you ever tried this one?” And while some critics insisted that the 25-year-old singer should not be mimicking such acts in front of her age-diverse crowd – eye roll – her fans couldn’t get enough.
Sabrina Carpenter
Chris Polk
By November, Sabrina had taken over everything from the charts, to the radio, to the internet – and then the 2025 Grammy nominations dropped. After building her career for ten years (debut single “Can’t Blame A Girl for Trying” was released in 2014), Sabrina received her first Grammy acknowledgements – six of them, including all four of the Big Four categories: best new artist, album of the year, record of the year and song of the year. In a crowded release year with constant competition for the spotlight, Carpenter broke through the noise for her biggest year yet.
And even as the year winds down, Sabrina is still motoring full speed ahead. She closed out 2024 with her own fun and flirty holiday special on Netflix, the star-studded A Nonsense Christmas, featuring duets with Chappell Roan, Tyla, Shania Twain, and Kali Uchis – and just released her NPR Tiny Desk performance, which served as a six-song victory lap celebrating her string of 2024 successes.
But despite her chart achievements, co-signs and accolades, what sets Sabrina apart from the other pop stars of the year is that she’s both widely adopted and undeniably cool. The “cool” factor is what brought the likes of Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner, Selena Gomez and Cara Delevingne to her tour; attracted collaborations from some of the hottest brands including Marc Jacobs, Skims and Versace; helped Sabrina notch a series of team-ups with one of her inspirations, Christina Aguilera; engaged over 263,000 voters on the Short n’ Sweet Tour; and landed varied covers on Paper, TIME, W and Cosmopolitan magazines.
Still, it feels as if there is so much more on the horizon. With the European leg of the Short n’ Sweet Tour on the horizon, plus headlining performances scheduled at Primavera Sound festival and BST Hyde Park, we at least know that we will be seeing more “Juno” positions as Carpenter crosses the pond – and who knows, maybe even more big miracles from the fun-size star to come in 2025.
See the rest of our top 10, along with our Honorable Mentions and Rookie and Comeback of the Year artists all right here — and then come back for the announcement of our No. 1 Greatest Pop Stars of 2024 at 2:00 p.m. ET!
