Odds on Pop Stars Landing Acting Nominations at the 2025 Academy Awards

Oscar buzz is gathering momentum in the movie industry with around three months until the 2025 Academy Awards nominations are announced.

Pop megastars are no strangers to winning Oscars in the past, with the likes of Lady Gaga, Sir Elton John, Billie Eilish, and Adele all previously winning at the Academy Awards in the Best Original Song category. 

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Selena vs Gaga 

While they are used to battling it out in the music charts, Selena Gomez and Gaga could be taking on one another for a Best Supporting Actress award at next year's Oscars.

Gaga has history at the Academy Awards, after the Monster hitmaker landed a Best Original Song Oscar for Shallow from her movie A Star Is Born in 2019. Same year, she also got a nod for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her portrayal of Ally in the 2018 movie, but she lost out to Olivia Colman, who triumphed for her part as Queen Anne in The Favourite.

Gaga's latest acting role sees her portray Harley Quinn in the musical psychological thriller Joker: Folie à Deux. 

The first Joker movie scored 11 Oscar nominations in 2020, and if the sequel does as well, then Gaga will be hoping to land one of the nods herself.

According to Indiewire, Gaga is a "contender" for a Best Supporting Actress nod for Joker 2, and Variety has tipped the singer as the ninth most likely star to receive a Best Supporting Actress nod. If their predictions are accurate, then it could see the star miss out due to there only being five Best Supporting Actress nomination spots available.

One star who could take Gaga's place in the nominations is fellow pop star and actress Gomez, who has already won a Best Actress prize this year when she shared the Cannes Film Festival gong with her Emilia Pérez co-stars Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofía Gascon, and Adriana Paz.

Variety thinks Gomez is the fifth most likely to receive a Best Supporting Actress nod in 2025 for the Spanish-language French musical crime comedy, and the publication has predicted Gomez's co-star Saldana is the most likely to receive the same nomination.

Selena Gomez emerges as a strong contender for Best Supporting Actress and a favourite to win the Best Original Song. (Image: Lev Radin/Pacific Press)

Saoirse Ronan, Danielle Deadwyler, and Isabella Rossellini are the second, third, and fourth most likely, respectively, to receive such a nod in what looks like an incredibly tough category. 

Screen Rant also believes Saldana is the favourite to land a Best Supporting Actress nomination for next year's Oscars. The site notes that Gomez will be hoping to "break through" and land a nod, as will Ariana Grande. What's more, Indiewire believes Gomez is a "contender" for a Best Supporting Actress nod.

While she could lose out on the accolade to her co-star Saldana, she may still have some 2025 Oscars success, as the star is one of the strong favourites to win the Best Original Song Oscar for Emilia Pérez's Mi Camino.

Gomez is the 10/11 favourite to secure an acting nomination at next year's Oscars, narrowly ahead of Gaga's 11/10 chance.

Gaga's Oscars Hopes

While Gomez could pip Gaga to a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 2025 Academy Awards, it wouldn't be a huge shock if the Bad Romance hitmaker landed another Oscar one day.

While Gaga may achieve a Best Supporting Actress nod next year, Saldana looks like she is the main contender to win that accolade. However, like Gomez, Gaga may have another chance via the Best Original Song category.

Her latest role as Quinn inspired the pop megastar to write a whole album about the complex character. Entitled Harlequin, the record features numerous songs from the Joker: Folie à Deux soundtrack.

Despite this, Variety aren't expecting a song from the motion picture to feature among the five nods, and the site has tipped Gomez's Mi Camino as the most likely for a nomination. As a result, it is 7/2 that Gaga lands an Oscar in 2025, and it's 5/1 that she does so the following year.

Given that she doesn't have any films coming out next year, Gaga may struggle to win her second Academy Award in 2026. Despite this, thanks to the Paparazzi hitmaker's singing and acting double threat, it would be no surprise to see her pick up another Academy Award at some point.

It's just 7/4 that this happens in 2028 or later, and 2/1 that Gaga tastes Oscar glory in 2027. But it's a big 12/1 she never achieves a solo Academy Awards win again.

Zendaya's First Academy Awards Nod?

 Zendaya is yet to have clinched an Academy Award nomination, but she has two chances this year. The star has an opportunity to land a Best Actress nomination for Challengers and also a Supporting Actress nomination for Dune: Part Two. While she has two movies in contention, there is a thought Zendaya might be spreading herself too thin in terms of her chances of a nomination.

Lady Gaga at the Los Angeles premiere of Joker Folie a Deux. (Image: Hyperstar / Alamy)

However, according to Indiewire, Zendaya is a "contender" to be among the Best Actress nominees for her role in the tennis movie Challengers, and the same site predicts she is a "long shot" for a Best Supporting Actress nod for Dune: Part Two. Zendaya is 3/1 third favourite to land a 2025 Oscars nod, out of fellow pop stars Gomez, Gaga, Grande, and Jennifer Lopez.

Indiewire also notes Grande is a "contender" for a Best Supporting Actress nod for her upcoming role in the movie Wicked, which will drop in November and see her star as Glinda the Good Witch. But Variety has her as the 11th most likely star to receive a Best Supporting Actress nod for the movie.

Grande is 5/1 for an Oscars nod, while it's 10/1 that Lopez receives her first-ever Academy Awards nomination next year. According to Indiewire, the pop star and actress is a "long shot" to be in with a chance of winning the 2025 Best Supporting Actress trophy for sports drama movie Unstoppable.

And Variety has predicted she is the 30th most likely for a Best Supporting Actress nod for the forthcoming film.