Pop

[edit] 1990s


Among the most successful pop acts of the 1990s were R&B-influenced pop acts such as Mariah Carey, Destiny's Child, Boyz II Men, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, En Vogue, Salt N Pepa, MC Hammer, C&C Music Factory, Brandy, and TLC. Non-R&B artists such as ,Cher, Michael Bolton, Bryan Adams, Elton John, Alanis Morissette, George Michael, Madonna, Shania Twain, Bon Jovi, Selena, Ace of Base, Celine Dion, Nádine, Aqua, Sheryl Crow, Kim Wilde, Jewel, Depeche Mode were also phenomenonally successful during that decade.
"Millennium", 1999.



The 1990s and 21st century were marked by a resurgence of boy band and girl group trends. The U.S. had New Edition, Color Me Badd, New Kids on the Block (in the late 1980s and early 1990s), followed by the Backstreet Boys often referred to as 'the best-selling boy band' of all time, Hanson, *NSYNC, 98 Degrees and the huge pop girl band phenomenon the Spice Girls, who are often credited by critics as the revival of pop music in the US.

Towards the turn of the millennium, the "pop princesses" appeared such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, Robyn, and Willa Ford. From the UK came the likes of Take That, Steps, Billie Piper and S Club 7, while Australia had Kylie Minogue and Savage Garden. Irish boy bands during this period included Boyzone and Westlife. 1999 saw the rise of the Latin pop explosion with Ricky Martin at the forefront, followed by Jennifer Lopez, Thalía, Luis Miguel, Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, Paulina Rubio, and Marc Anthony. Also, there were many pop bands from continental Europe that found their way to topping worldwide charts, such as Aqua (Denmark), a-ha (Norway), Los del Río (Spain), and A*Teens (Sweden).
The 1990s also saw the beginnings of a surgence in pop into the Asian market, known as J-pop, as originated from Japan. Utada Hikaru and Namie Amuro each sold over 50 million in their respective Asian markets.

[edit] 2000s


Utada Hikaru at Kanto, 2004



In the 2000s, pop music paved the way for the multi-platinum successes of artists like Anastacia, Backstreet Boys, Destiny's Child, Beyoncé Knowles, Black Eyed Peas, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Ciara, Jessica Simpson, Ashlee Simpson, Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani, Mya, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, Shakira, NSync, Pussycat Dolls and Usher. Robbie Williams recorded the biggest sales for a male artist, mostly in the European market. In 2002 t.A.T.u. emerged from Russia to huge success which they still continue to have today as the best selling Russian act of all time.
The divas of the 90s artists, such as Madonna, and Mariah Carey presented albums that prolonged their rule of the music charts. Other trends included Teen pop singers such as Disney Channel star Hilary Duff. Pop punk acts such as Simple Plan and Fall Out Boy have become increasingly popular, as well as pop rock acts such as Ashlee Simpson and Avril Lavigne and emo music such as Hawthorne Heights, Lostprophets, and Dashboard Confessional.
The popular American reality program American Idol has produced many successful Pop artists, most notably Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Katharine McPhee, Chris Daughtry and country pop artists Carrie Underwood and Kellie Pickler.
In Latin America, multi-platinum pop group RBD has achieved a great commercial success becoming the best-selling Latin act on the 2000s.
There has also been a major trend which has created multiple tiers of pop singers, with one designed for preteens andteenagers. While this is not necessarily a new development, it is seen by many as detrimental to music as a whole, as it has furthered the compartmentalization for music. Besides Hilary Duff, who is among the major teen pop singers, many other Disney Channel actors have become singers. These artists include teen idols Ashley Tisdale and Vanessa Hudgens. Other Disney artists include Jesse McCartney, Hilary Duff, Miley Cyrus and Aly and AJ.
In the early 2000s, "pure" pop began to morph into a more blended style of music. 90s pop stars such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera experienced somewhat diminished sales, and proceeded to change their image and sound to a more "R&B" style, largely due to the dominance of urban or hip-hop radio in the United States. As R&B and pop music blended, more and more "Pop / R&B" artists emerged, such as Mariah Carey, Ciara, Rihanna, Nelly Furtado, Christina Milian, Paula DeAnda, Ne-Yo, Akon, T-Pain, Justin Timberlake and Pussycat Dolls. This also happened with rock music with artists such as Avril Lavigne and such.
Toward the late 90s, Korean boy bands, such as H.O.T., lead to popularity with Korean music (K-pop). This was due to the fact that Asian music was now starting to sound more westernized. This saw the rise of K-pop within Asian markets, leading to the craze, hallyu. The hallyu craze has dominated the Asian markets since the early 2000s. With Korean artists such as BoA, Rain (Bi) and SE7EN, breaking records and sales throughout Asia, and having capabilities to sing not only in their native tongue (Korean), but also Japanese and Chinese (Mandarin dialect). This has only contributed to the popularity of K-pop, and has helped it stay on top throughout the 2000's.
Japanese Pop (J-Pop) has also achieved great popularity even outside Asia, having a relatively big importance in the U.S. and Europe[citation needed]. As with Korean Pop, the main reason of this is the more western sound of J-Pop and the inclusion of J-Pop songs in many videogames released worlwide with huge success between teenagers, rivalizing with other Asian and some Western singers, artists such Utada Hikaru, Koda Kumi, Ayumi Hamasaki or girl band Morning Musume, between others[citation needed].
[edit] Songwriting, recording and distribution formats