Saturday, February 18, 2012

Pop Music: Surviving And Thriving

By Dean Smith


People call it Pop Music for a reason. It is the song category that covers the widest spectrum of audiences and enjoys the best sales performance in the industry. The songs themselves have a catchy tune that match with the easy to remember verses and choruses.

Labels and producers started recording singles in the 1920s. Their aim was to promote sales and increase the popularity of the artists under their wing. The songs often took elements from country, rock or jazz to create sound that appealed to a wide range of personalities from all walks of life. It was pioneered in America and to this day, American artists lead the way.

It was Madonna and Michael Jackson who took turns dominating the songs of the 1980s. They appealed to the more daring and carefree aspect of the culture at the time. In the 1990s, male and female groups shined. The likes of 98 Degrees, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC and Hanson traded hits with the Spice Girls and Destiny's Child. The younger generation took over in the year 2000 when Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears grew up and into the stars that they are today.

Pop music has evolved with the times and has made its mark in our culture. It has also adapted to new technology in order to improve the quality of sound. The strong support from pop artists has led to the breakthrough of new media and MTV.

Due to its commercial success, it makes sense that it continues to dominate the charts through the years. The melody, how it is packaged and presented, contributes to the variety of the fan base that it thrives off of. There is very little doubt that the trend will continue so long as its sales best that of the other categories.

The gauge for the success and failure of the industry has always been the charts. It usually compiles data from radio stations and stores in order to come up with a list of the top songs and albums. There are a variety of charts available. Some are divided by category, by type of sales and also by location.

To get to know the top performers, sales from singles and albums, airplay and radio requests, and downloads were tallied. The results are usually published daily, weekly, monthly and there is another one at the end of the year. With such results, pop music continues its reign at the peak of the industry.




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