2011: The Year Pop Peaked

[PunkTheFunk 124,337]

Think pop music is on the decline? Well, you're right.

I came across this glorious article on Dataface.com called "Determining the Lifecycle of Each Music Genre". Basically, they did an analysis of Hot 100 Charts for the past 60 years and charted "the trajectory that major genres have followed to reach the mainstream — the years that genres like rock or rap or country spent climbing onto America’s radar, the golden era of each genre when it was adopted and enjoyed by the masses, and the decline older genres suffered as they fell out of favor. In this way, we hoped to capture the “lifecycle” of major genres in American popular music."

The graph below shows four genres - Rap/Hip (blue), R&B (light blue), Rock (dark blue) and pop (orange) and the percentages of spots on the Hot 100 Charts they occupied that year. Using this chart we can track the rises/falls in popularity of each genre over the years.

(Please excuse my sh*tty screencap )

- Rock music skyrockets between 1963 to 1966 -- you can easily attribute this to The Beatles/The British Invasion. Before that the radio was dominated by sleepy country music/jazz standards (Tony says hi )

- Rock music dominates the charts for decades (even through the disco era) and peaks around 1983-1985 (when it represents 60% of Hot 100 songs), after which it experiences a swift decline. Recall that Madonna, Prince, and Michael Jackson, a.k.a the Holy Trinity of Pop music, begin to experience immense mainstream success around this time. As a result, you can see the pop line shoot straight up from the mid-to-late 80s.

- Things look great for pop music until 1989, the year R&B and Hip-Hop begin their steady rise. The best selling album of the year is Bobby Brown's "Don't Be Cruel", which is R&B/New Jack Swing. Janet also releases "Rhythm Nation 1814." You can also notice funk and soul elements creeping into Madonna's music around this time. 

- Pop music hits a low in 1994. By this point, R&B, Rap/Hip-Hop, and Rock are the dominating sounds on the radio. To stay relevant, Madonna releases "Bedtime Stories", an album inspired by contemporary R&B. The Billboard chart is filled with the likes of Ace of Base, Mariah Carey, All-4-One, Janet Jackson, Boyz II Men, and Toni Braxton.

- R&B continues to dominate for the next decade. Pop music has a mini-resurgence around 1997-2000 and brings with it Britney Spears, Destiny's Child, NSYNC, and Christina Aguilera; the genre stays stable through to the early 2000s. 

- 2005 is the last year Rap/Hip-Hop dominates. The radio is saturated with Mariah Carey, 50 Cent, Ciara, and Kanye West.

And then, the Pop Music Renaissance happens  ...which gives us Gaga, Kitty Purry, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Taylor Swift, and just about any other big pop name you can think of.

In 2008 the top four songs of the year were "Low", "Bleeding Love", "No One", and "Lollipop"- all R&B/Hip-hop. By 2009 the top four songs of the year ("Boom Boom Pow", "Poker Face", "Just Dance", and "I Gotta Feeling") are purely electronic dance songs.

As the graph shows, the last peak year for pop music is 2011. If you look at the year-end Billboard Chart for that year, literally EVERY song that occupies the top spots (with the exception of Adele's) is an upbeat dance track.  "Party Rock Anthem", "Give Me Everything", "Super Bass", "S&M", "Born This Way", "Last Friday Night", "Moves Like Jagger", to name a few.

Gaga breaks her hip, and everything goes down hill from there. 

The top songs of 2016 were moody tropical tracks like "One Dance" and "Work", angsty EDM travesties like "Closer", and mumble rap messes like "Panda."

Our situation now in 2017 is comparable to the early 90s. Pop music is on the decline; rap/hip-hop are dominating; my internet connection is slow af.

---

All this analysis gives me a few points to ponder:

1. Did Gaga really give birth to pop music like we all think she did, or was she simply riding an already growing trend?

2. Did Gaga cause the decline of pop music by flopping during the latter part of the Born This Way era?

3. If ARTPOP had been a massive commercial success, would it have stopped the decline of pop music?

4. Is Kety's "Dark Horse" to blame for causing Rap/Hip-Hop to surge?

5. Is Shawn Mendes a hunty?

 

[Korok 4,272]

The decay of rock is a lot scarier. 

[Gia Gunn 7,265]

PunkTheFunk posted a new top-

[donutellha 13,819]

all this reading and analytics and the only thing i can confirm is that shawn mendes IS indeed a hunty

 

[Maleficent 6]

So which genre is Adele? 

[PunkTheFunk 124,337]

Just now, Maleficent said:

So which genre is Adele? 

Talent

[Korok 4,272]

1 hour ago, Maleficent said:

So which genre is Adele? 

Pop.

[Maleficent 6]

Just now, PunkTheFunk said:

Talent

Ah yes. The percentage of talent in the industry is too low to be shown on that graph.

[sipthistea 21,099]

The year this MAGNUM OPUS was released 

[Fingerella 3,170]

If hiphop rises again does this mean all of us gays are going to be sent to conversion camps? 

[KyliesChild 16,907]

There's only one queen that can save us:

[lost in limbo 6,035]

1 minute ago, None of us said:

If hiphop rises again does this mean all of us gays are going to be sent to conversion camps? 

Let´s pray for a big NO.

[PunkTheFunk 124,337]

2 minutes ago, Skai Jackson said:

There's only one queen that can save us:

i don't know her.gif

[PunkTheFunk 124,337]

4 minutes ago, None of us said:

If hiphop rises again does this mean all of us gays are going to be sent to conversion camps? 

Gaga:

[weed 73,182]

I guess EDM/Indie/Country is pop? Or country is separate but they didn't add it?