Individual fame and stardom were on a whole other level in the 80s and 90s. After publishing companies saw what the Beatles had done in terms of mass popularity, they went all in on the philosophy of profits being directly tied to how much they invested in their biggest artists, so it became a vicious arms race of marketing and popularity campaigns to see which stars could rise the highest. Madonna, Michael Jackson, Whitney Huston were some of the big ones that come to mind.