As expected, it was a total eclipse of Taylor Swift on the charts and in the conversation for October — with the pop ultrasupermegastar topping both the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100 for essentially the entire month with her The Life of a Showgirl and its lead single “The Fate of Ophelia,” posting beyond-historic numbers and inspiring takes of all kinds in the process. Most other pop stars understandably stayed out of her way — but a few intrepid souls were still heard from this month, managing to make waves of their own within the Swift riptide.

This week, we look back at the October that was in pop stardom, as host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staffers Kyle Denis and Stephen Daw to share and debate our respective October top five lists, while also naming some honorabl

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