Contemporary pop

Pop
Stylistic origins	Traditional pop rock and roll folk
Cultural origins	Mid-1950s, United States and United Kingdom
Derivative forms	Disco
Subgenres
Art pop Brill Building bubblegum pop dance-pop experimental pop hypnagogic pop operatic pop progressive pop schlager sophisti-pop space age pop sunshine pop synth-pop teen pop Dream pop
Fusion genres
Baroque pop beat Contemporary Christian country pop electropop indie pop jangle pop Latin pop noise pop pop punk pop-rap pop rock power pop psychedelic pop R&B reggae fusion smooth jazz smooth soul ambient pop
Regional scenes
China India Indonesia Hong Kong Italy Japan Korea Malaysia Mexican Morocco Pakistan Philippines Russia Scandinavia Sweden Taiwan Thailand Turkey United Kingdom United States Vietnam Western Europe
Other topics
Avant-pop pop music automation poptimism rock music

Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid-1950s. The terms "popular music" and "pop music" are often used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular and includes many different styles. "Pop" and "rock" were roughly synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when they became increasingly differentiated from each other.

Although much of the music that appears on record charts is seen as pop music, the genre is distinguished from chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other styles such as urban, dance, rock, Latin, and country; nonetheless, there are core elements that define pop music. Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a basic format (often the verse-chorus structure), as well as common use of repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and hooks.

David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as "a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, and folk musics". According to Pete Seeger, pop music is "professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music". Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. The music charts contain songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs. As a genre, Pop music is seen to exist and develop separately. Therefore, the term "pop music" may be used to describe a distinct genre, designed to appeal to all, often characterized as "instant singles-based music aimed at teenagers" in contrast to rock music as "album-based music for adults".

Pop music continuously evolves along with the term's definition. According to The New Grove Dictionary Of Music and Musicians, popular music is defined as "the music since industrialization in the 1800’s that is most in line with the tastes and interests of the urban middle class." The term "pop song" was first used in 1926, in the sense of a piece of music "having popular appeal". Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues, and hillbilly music.

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Wikipedia