Who Was the Greatest U.K. Pop Star of 2006, Arctic Monkeys or Lily Allen? Greatest Pop Stars Podcast
Billboard ·
This two-part kickoff to Vintage Almost-Pop Stardom month on the Greatest Pop Stars podcast looks at two of the biggest years in mid-'00s U.K. pop — neither of which the U.S. got the same way.
By the mid-’00s, pop music on both sides of the Atlantic had arrived at a relatively staid place, in pretty dire need of something of a reset. In the U.S., we got Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado, but in the U.K., they got an entirely different new class of pop stars to shake up the 2006 status quo. One of them, Amy Winehouse, would go onto bigger things (including stateside pop stardom) in the following year, but another pair crashed the U.K charts and culture with their biggest year ever, all without making much impact in the U.S. until well later: Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen .
This month on the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, we’re returning for another mini-series spin-off of our usual Vintage Pop Stardom series, titled Vintage Almost-Pop Stardom. All October, we’ll be welcoming on some of our favorite guests (and one or two first-timers) to look at a quintet of really interesting artists during years in which they brushed against pop stardom, but perhaps never quite got all the way there (at least in this country). First up, we’ve got a double-shot of episodes co-starring our mates from across the pond at Billboard UK — Sophie Williams and Thomas Smith — to talk about all things 2006 Lily Allen and 2006 Arctic Monkeys, respectively.
Along the way, we answer all the more important questions about both 2006 U.K. pop stars: Why was British pop music in such need of some fresh blood at the time? Did the two artists and the discussion around them accidentally predict the (often ridiculous) pop-discourse conversations we’re having in 2026 about industry plants, nepo babies and psy ops? How did both artists absolutely nail it with their respective debut singles (and debut albums)? Why did both of them initially struggle to break the U.S. — and how did they both ultimately get their belated validation on both sides of the pond? And perhaps most importantly: Which of the two should we consider the Greatest British Pop Star of 2006?
Check out both episodes above, and find YouTube playlists of both artists’ biggest 2006 moments — all of which are discussed in their respective episodes — below. 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, including more Vintage Almost-Pop Stardom episodes every all this October!
And finally, 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:
Transgender Law Center
Trans Lifeline
Destination Tomorrow
Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe
Human Rights Campaign – In Your Area