Superstar is a term used to refer to a celebrity who has great popular appeal and is widely-known, prominent or successful in some field. Celebrities referred to as "superstars" may include individuals who work as actors, actresses, musicians, athletes, and other professions. The term "superstar" is a subjective assessment, and there is no empirical criteria for applying the term. From an economic perspective, Alan B. Krueger's studies of the concept of the "superstar" in the music industry suggest that the top earning bands could be called "superstars". However, the term is also bestowed on individuals by media commentators, critics, and journalists, using aesthetic or other subjective assessment techniques in addition to quantitative criteria, or without quantitative criteria.

“Small differences in the skill input of certain individuals may get magnified into large differences in the value of the service when that service can be consumed by a large audience that can share the cost.” As such “many people may each be willing to pay a little more to hear the best performer, who may only be marginally better than the next best performer, producing a superstar salary for the top performer.” This means “even if the top executive of a firm is only slightly more talented than the next best person, that small additional talent is worth a huge amount if it affects thousands of employees or millions of customers.