Styles of pop music

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.[1] 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.

## Stylistic origins

[edit]

### Traditional pop

[edit]

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".[2]

### Rock and roll

[edit]

Main article: Rock and roll

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.[3] It originated from black American music such as gospel, jump blues, jazz, boogie woogie, rhythm and blues,[4] as well as country music.[5] While rock and roll's formative elements can be heard in blues records from the 1920s[6] and in country records of the 1930s,[5] the genre did not acquire its name until 1954.[7]

## Earliest form

[edit]

Main article: Pop music § Stylistic evolution

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.[1][verification needed]

## Subgenres

[edit]

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.

### Art pop

[edit]

Main article: Art pop

### Brill Building

[edit]

Main article: Brill Building (genre)

### Bubblegum pop

[edit]

Main article: Bubblegum music

### City pop

[edit]

Main article: City pop

### Cringe pop

[edit]

Main article: Cringe pop

### Dance-pop

[edit]

Main article: Dance-pop

### Electropop

[edit]

Main article: Electropop

### Indie pop

[edit]

Main article: Indie pop

#### Bedroom pop

[edit]

Main article: Bedroom pop

#### Sapphic pop

[edit]

Main article: Sapphic pop

#### Twee pop

[edit]

Main article: Twee pop

### Operatic pop

[edit]

Main article: Operatic pop

### Orchestral pop

[edit]

Main article: Orchestral pop

### Schlager

[edit]

Main article: Schlager music

### Sophisti-pop

[edit]

Main article: Sophisti-pop

### Sunshine pop

[edit]

Main article: Sunshine pop

### Teen pop

[edit]

Main article: Teen pop

### Wonky pop

[edit]

Main article: Wonky pop

### Dark pop

[edit]

Dark pop

Stylistic origins|

* Alternative
* pop
* indie
* grunge

Cultural origins| 1980s and 1990s

Dark pop (often typeset with a hyphen) is a subgenre of pop music that combines elements of alternative and indie with pop music. It is characterized by its deep melancholic sound and minimalistic electronic production. Often dark pop features heavy synths, distorted guitars, and electronic drums.[8]

The trend began in the 1980s with grunge, a genre that also dealt with depressing topics about heartbreak, loss and loneliness, similar to topics expressed in dark pop. By the 1990s, dark pop drew from trip-hop, gothic rock, and avant-garde traditions, evolving and disengaging into a distinct style that emphasized atmospheric texture and introspective storytelling. However dark pop isn't avant-garde, often having a more mainstream sound. Many artists also started to incorporate dark pop with punk, rap and electronic sounds. During the 2010s, these infusions became prominent as it gained mainstream traction by well known artists such as Rina Sawayama who infused it with electronic club music. A notable dark pop song, that also incorporated electronic sounds is singer and social media personality Bella Poarch's debut single "Build a Bitch".[9][10][11][12]

## Fusion genres

[edit]

Below are styles of pop music that mixed with other standalone genres.

### Country pop

[edit]

Main article: Country pop

### Dancehall pop

[edit]

Main article: Dancehall pop

### Disco-pop

[edit]

Not to be confused with Dance-pop.

[citation needed]

Disco-pop

Stylistic origins|

* 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."[13][14] Retrospectively, albums such as Michael Jackson's Off the Wall have been referred to as the genre.[15] With the release of Saturday Night Fever's 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".[16]

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.[17][18][19]

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.[20] Other artists who contributed to the revival included Doja Cat, Victoria Monet, and Jessie Ware.[21]

### Folk-pop

[edit]

Main article: Folk-pop

### Hip pop

[edit]

Main article: Pop-rap

### House-pop

[edit]

House-pop

Stylistic origins|

* Disco
* diva house
* synth-pop

Cultural origins| 1990s, United States

House-pop (sometimes also called "pop-house")[22] is a crossover of house and dance-pop music that emerged in early '90s.[23] The genre was created to make house music more radio friendly.[24] 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.[23]

### Jazz pop

[edit]

Main article: Jazz pop

### Pop-R&B

[edit]

Main article: Contemporary R&B

### Pop rock

[edit]

Main article: Pop rock

#### Baroque pop

[edit]

Main article: Baroque pop

#### Cowboy pop

[edit]

Main article: Cowboy pop

#### Emo pop

[edit]

Main article: Emo pop

#### Goth pop

[edit]

Main article: Goth

#### Jangle pop

[edit]

Main article: Jangle pop

#### Pop metal

[edit]

Main article: Pop metal

#### Pop punk

[edit]

Main article: Pop punk

#### Power pop

[edit]

Main article: Power pop

### Pop soul / Motown

[edit]

Main article: Motown sound

#### Beach pop

[edit]

Main article: Beach music

### Psychedelic pop

[edit]

Main article: Psychedelic pop

#### Hypnagogic pop

[edit]

Main article: Hypnagogic pop

### Reggae-pop

[edit]

Main article: Reggae fusion

### Space age pop

[edit]

Main article: Space age pop

### Street pop

[edit]

Main article: Street pop

### Synth-pop

[edit]

Main article: Synth-pop

### Worldbeat

[edit]

Main article: Worldbeat

## Avant-garde related genres

[edit]

Below are pop music that related to avant-garde culture.

### Experimental pop

[edit]

Main article: Experimental pop

### Hyperpop

[edit]

Main article: Hyperpop

### Industrial pop

[edit]

Main article: Industrial pop

### Noise pop

[edit]

Main article: Noise pop

### Progressive pop

[edit]

Main article: Progressive pop

## Regional scenes and subgenres

[edit]

* American pop
* Arabic pop music
* Assyrian folk/pop music
* Austropop
* Azerbaijani pop music
* British pop music
* Cantopop
* Europop
* French Mandopop
* French pop music
* Hokkien pop
* Hong Kong English pop
* Hungarian pop
* Indian pop
* Indo pop
* Iranian pop music
* Lao pop
* Latin pop
* Mandopop
* Mexican pop music
* Moroccan pop
* Nederpop
* Pinoy pop
* Pop music in Ukraine
* Q-pop
* Russian pop
* Serbian pop
* Sundanese pop
* Thai pop music
* Turkish pop music
* V-pop

### Popular music scenes

[edit]

* African popular music
* American popular music
* British popular music
* Early British popular music
* popular music of Birmingham
* popular music of Manchester
* C-pop
* French popular music
* Italian popular music
* J-pop
* K-pop
* Malaysian popular music
* Música popular brasileira
* Nordic popular music
* Original Pilipino music
* Pakistani popular music
* popular music in Croatia
* popular music in Sweden
* popular music in Yugoslavia
* popular music of Vietnam
* Slovak popular music

## Other related genres

[edit]

### Contemporary Christian music

[edit]

Main article: Contemporary Christian music

### Motown

[edit]

Main article: Motown (music style)

### New wave

[edit]

Main article: New wave music

### Rock music

[edit]

Main article: Rock music

### Smooth jazz

[edit]

Main article: Smooth jazz

### Smooth soul

[edit]

Main article: Smooth soul

## Other genres

[edit]

Below are 'pop' genres that are not considered as pop musics.

### Ambient pop

[edit]

Main article: Ambient pop

### Avant-pop

[edit]

Main article: Avant-pop

### Bitpop

[edit]

Main article: Bitpop

### Britpop

[edit]

Main article: Britpop

### Chamber pop

[edit]

Main article: Chamber pop

### Dream pop

[edit]

Main article: Dream pop

### Futurepop

[edit]

Main article: Futurepop

### Swamp pop

[edit]

Main article: Swamp pop

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), ISBN 0-521-55660-0, pp. 95–105.
2. ^ "Traditional Pop | Music Highlights". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2017-10-19. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
3. ^ Farley, Christopher John (July 6, 2004). "Elvis Rocks But He's Not the First". Time. Archived from the original on August 17, 2013. Retrieved July 3, 2009.
4. ^ Christ-Janer, Albert, Charles W. Hughes, and Carleton Sprague Smith, American Hymns Old and New (New York: Columbia University Press, 1980), p. 364, ISBN 0-231-03458-X.
5. ^ a b Peterson, Richard A. Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity (1999), p. 9, ISBN 0-226-66285-3.
6. ^ Davis, Francis. The History of the Blues (New York: Hyperion, 1995), ISBN 0-7868-8124-0.
7. ^ "The Roots of Rock 'n' Roll 1946–1954". 2004. Universal Music Enterprises.
8. ^ "Dark Pop artists, songs, albums, playlists and listeners – volt.fm". volt.fm. Archived from the original on 13 December 2024. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
9. ^ Murray, Robin (May 15, 2021). "Bella Poarch's 'Build A Bitch' Is A Phenomenon". Clash. Archived from the original on May 14, 2021.
10. ^ Darus, Alex. "10 dark-pop artists who are proving that genres are best when blended". Alternative Press Magazine. Archived from the original on May 5, 2023. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
11. ^ Administrator (2011-06-06). "Dark pop • Inside Story". Inside Story. Archived from the original on March 31, 2015. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
12. ^ RecentMusic.com. RecentMusic - Latest Dark Pop Releases. Archived from the original on 15 December 2024. Retrieved 2024-12-15 - via recentmusic.com.
13. ^ Jahr, Cliff (1976-10-07). "Elton John Comes Out as Bisexual in Rolling Stone's 1976 Cover Story". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
14. ^ Rockwell, John (1978-12-01). "The Pop Life". The New York Times.
15. ^ "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
16. ^ Lawrence, Tim (2006), "In Defence Of Disco (Again)", New Formations: A Journal of Culture, Theory, Politics (58): 128–146 - via UEL Research Repository
17. ^ Dalton, Stephen (2005-09-12). "Moloko : Sing it back". NME. Archived from the original on 2024-06-25. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
18. ^ Campbell, Tina (2024-04-20). "Sophie Ellis-Bextor working on 'happy disco music' amid Saltburn success". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 2024-06-25. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
19. ^ Zellner, Xander (2024-01-09). "Hot 100 First-Timers: Sophie Ellis-Bextor Debuts With 'Murder on the Dancefloor' Thanks to 'Saltburn'". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2024-06-25. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
20. ^ S, Anjana (2021-02-16). "The 'Disco Pop' Revival And Its Top Contributors". Retrieved 2024-09-23.
21. ^ "Love To Love Them, Baby: From Donna Summer To Dua Lipa, Meet The Women Singers Who Shaped (And Continue to Shape) Dance Music | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
22. ^ "R3HAB Releases "My Pony," A Dancefloor and Radio Friendly Soulful House-Pop Gem". 12 April 2022.
23. ^ a b "A Brief History of House Pop, Inspired by Robyn's Honey". Pitchfork. 5 November 2018. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
24. ^ "The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time". Slant Magazine. 15 June 2020. Archived from the original on 22 April 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2022.

* v
* t
* e

Pop music

Stylistic origins|

* Tin Pan Alley
* Traditional pop
* Rock and roll

Styles|

* Adult contemporary
* Christian
* Quiet storm
* Rhythmic
* Urban
* Alternative
* Paisley Underground
* Ambient
* Art
* Avant
* Beach
* Beat
* Brill Building
* Bubblegum
* Chamber
* Contemporary Christian music
* Country
* Bro-country
* Cowboy
* Cringe
* Dancehall
* Dance
* Freestyle
* Crunkcore
* Disco polo
* Dream
* Experimental
* Folk
* Hyperpop
* Hypnagogic
* Indie
* Dunedin sound
* Twee
* Operatic
* Orchestral
* Baroque
* Pop rap
* Pop rock
* Emo
* Jangle
* Pop metal
* Pop-punk
* Power
* Progressive
* Psychedelic
* Recession
* Schlager music
* Sophisti-pop
* Space age
* Sunshine
* Swamp
* Synth-pop
* Electropop
* Futurepop
* Teen
* Traditional
* Wonky

Regional variants|

| Africa|

* Africa
* Afrobeats
* Moroccan

|

The Americas|

* American
* Argentine
* Brazilian (MPB)
* Brega pop
* Choro
* Cumbia Pop
* Latin
* Tropipop
* Mexican
* Nueva ola

Asia|

* Arabic
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* Cantopop
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* Hakka
* Hokkien
* Indigenous
* Mandopop
* Thai
* Vietnamese

Europe|

* Austropop
* Balkan pop-folk
* Chalga
* Laïko
* Manele
* Tallava
* Turbo-folk
* British
* Dutch
* Nederbeat
* New pop
* Eurodance
* Europop
* French pop
* French Mandopop
* Yé-yé
* Hungarian
* Italian
* Macedonian
* Čalgija
* Romanian
* Manele
* Russian
* Schlager
* Serbian
* Swedish
* Turkish
* SFR Yugoslavia
* Soviet
* VIA music
* Ukrainian

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