Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms popular music and pop music are often used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular and includes many disparate styles. During the 1950s and 1960s, pop music encompassed rock and roll and the youth-oriented styles it influenced. Rock and pop music remained roughly synonymous until the late 1960s, after which pop became associated with music that was more commercial, ephemeral, and accessible.
Although much of the music that appears on record charts is seen as pop music, the genre is distinguished from chart music. Identifying factors usually include repeated choruses and hooks, short to medium-length songs written in a basic format (often the verse-chorus structure), and rhythms or tempos that can be easily danced to. Much pop music also borrows elements from other styles such as rock, urban, dance, Latin, and country.
Below is a list of styles of pop music.
See main article: Traditional pop. Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western popular music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards or American standards. The works of these songwriters and composers are usually considered part of the canon known as the "Great American Songbook". More generally, the term "standard" can be applied to any popular song that has become very widely known within mainstream culture.
AllMusic defines traditional pop as "post-big band and pre-rock & roll pop music".[1]
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s.[2] It originated from black American music such as gospel, jump blues, jazz, boogie woogie, rhythm and blues,[3] as well as country music.[4] While rock and roll's formative elements can be heard in blues records from the 1920s[5] and in country records of the 1930s, the genre did not acquire its name until 1954.[6]
Early pop music drew on the sentimental ballad for its form, gained its use of vocal harmonies from gospel and soul music, instrumentation from jazz and rock music, orchestration from classical music, tempo from dance music, backing from electronic music, rhythmic elements from hip-hop music, and spoken passages from rap.[7]
Below are genres that exclusively considered as subgenres of pop.
Note that music styles like dance, electronic, opera, and orchestra are not considered as standalone genres.
See main article: Art pop.
See main article: Brill Building (genre).
See main article: Bubblegum music.
See main article: City pop.
See main article: Cringe pop.
See main article: Dance-pop.
See main article: Electropop.
See main article: Indie pop.
See main article: Sapphic pop.
See main article: Twee pop.
See main article: Operatic pop.
See main article: Orchestral pop.
See main article: Schlager music.
See main article: Sophisti-pop.
See main article: Sunshine pop.
See main article: Wonky pop.
Below are styles of pop music that mixed with other standalone genres.
See main article: Country pop.
See main article: Dancehall pop.
| Disco-pop | |
| Cultural Origins: | Late 1970s |
Rolling Stone and The New York Times have used the term disco-pop as early as 1976 and 1978 respectively. The publications referring to songs such as "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" by Elton John and Kiki Dee and "Heart of Gold" by Boney M. while stating the music of the Salsoul Orchestra was "material and arrangements are unalloyed disco pop."[8] [9] Retrospectively, albums such as Michael Jackson's Off the Wall have been referred to as the genre.[10] With the release of Saturday Night Fevers film and album leading disco music to explode in popularity in 1978. This led to thousands of discotheque moguls and their patrons to mimic what hcontorted versions of dance culture. Tim Lawrence wrote on this phenomnen as interesting, but that "while the initial experience was thrilling, the effect soon began to fade or, worse still, jar. By 1979 the combination of the shrill white disco pop that had come to dominate the charts".[11]
Around the 2000s, some new songs were described as disco-pop, including "Sing It Back" by Moloko, "Murder on the Dancefloor" by Sophie Ellis-Bextor.[12] [13] [14]
Allure stated in 2020 that there was a disco-pop revival in music, such as Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia and Lady Gaga's Chromatica.[15] Other artists who contributed to the revival included Doja Cat, Victoria Monet, and Jessie Ware.[16]
See main article: Folk-pop.
See main article: Pop-rap.
| House-pop | |
| Cultural Origins: | 1990s, United States |
House-pop (sometimes also called "pop-house")[17] is a crossover of house and dance-pop music that emerged in early '90s.[18] The genre was created to make house music more radio friendly.[19] The characteristic of house-pop is similar to diva house music, like over-the-top vocal acrobatics, bubbly synth riffs, and four-on-the-floor rhythm. House-pop also has hip-hop influence.[18]
See main article: article.
See main article: Pop rock.
See main article: Baroque pop.
See main article: Cowboy pop.
See main article: Emo pop.
See main article: Jangle pop.
See main article: Pop metal.
Pop soul / Motown is a genre of soul music that has upbeat tempo and given a commercially viable, crossover production.[21] The vocals are still raw, but the material and the sound of the record could easily fit onto pop radio stations' playlists. Motown was the pioneering label of pop soul, and through much of the 1960s, it was one of the most popular pop music genres. In the 1970s, pop soul became slicker, and it eventually metamorphosed into disco.[22] Luther Vandross is an example of pop soul musician.[23]
See main article: Beach music.
See main article: Psychedelic pop.
See main article: Hypnagogic pop.
See main article: Reggae fusion.
See main article: Space age pop.
| Street pop | |
| Other Names: | Street hop |
| Cultural Origins: | Late 2010s – early 2020s, Lagos, Nigeria |
Street pop, or street hop, is an experimental, hybrid rap genre that blends Nigerian street music, Nigerian hip hop, Afrobeats and pop with African and Western electronic dance music elements like gqom. It features uptempo beats, including slower-paced beats and variation styles. The genre combines Western and Nigerian pop influences to create a distinctive, evolving sound. Key musical artists like Olamide, Asake, Zinoleesky, Naira Marley and Seyi Vibez, highlight its fusion of traditional and modern elements.[24] [25] [26]
See main article: Synth-pop.
See main article: Worldbeat.
Below are pop music that related to avant-garde culture.
See main article: Experimental pop.
See main article: Hyperpop.
See main article: Noise pop.
See main article: Progressive pop.
See main article: Contemporary Christian music.
See main article: New wave music.
See main article: Smooth jazz.
See main article: Smooth soul.
Below are 'pop' genres that are not considered as pop musics.
See main article: Avant-pop.
See main article: Bitpop.
See main article: Britpop.
See main article: Chamber pop.
See main article: Dream pop.
See main article: article and Futurepop.
See main article: Swamp pop.